Forever Guarding
by Fading to Black
Summary: Graduated, the Guardians deal with a new and improved Easter, card readings, family, and themselves. Can they survive all that's been thrown at them?
1. The Beginning

Me: Meyumi-chan here! My friend finally convinced me to join and post some on here. So here's a first try.

Kukai: Hi! Just here to tell you that...

Utau: Meyumi-chan does not own Shugo Chara, or any other thing that may/may not be referenced in here.

Me: Utau, what are you doing here? It wasn't your turn to do the disclaimer.

Yaya: Yeah! *pouts*

Utau: Well, I followed **Kukai** here!

Me & Kukai: *sweatdrops*

What? The Guardians are graduating?  
Prologue

It was breezy; the slight wind ruffled the blonde's hair as she went to school. Mashiro Rima was torn between a smile and a frown. It was the last day of elementary school. All the Guardians would be going to middle school. Well, most of the Guardians. Yaya, her best friend, was a year younger. Rima sighed. _Time to make memories,_ Rima supposed, crossing the street to Seiyo Elementary for the last time.

Fujisaki Nagihiko was walking to school. It was graduation already. He was numb to the excitement though. He was worrying over how to say two things and how they would go over with his friends. He was jolted back into reality when Rhythm slapped his back and reminded him a final time "Nagi, make it cool, man. Just make it cool. Yay!" From his other side, Temari laughed and tugged on his kimono. He went to the entrance to Seiyo Elementary and crossed that street as himself the last time.

On the other hand, the brunette baby character was not on her way to school. Yuiki Yaya was sitting on the floor in her house, crying like the world was ending. I suppose that it must have felt like that to her. All her friends, including her best friend were moving up to middle school, including her best friend, Rima. The year was so short, yet they had managed time for all the X-eggs and ?-eggs and Easter. Unwillingly, at her mom's urging that she still had one day to spend with her friends at school, Yaya got up and ran to school. She didn't want to miss a second of it.

The other blonde quietly tip-toed into his oba-sama's room. He set down the vase of flowers on the stout table next to her bed, and waited for a reaction, getting none, as always. Hotori Tadase frowned and walked out of the room. He took one flower from another pot outside the room, stuffed it in his pocket, and walked off towards the Elementary school he was about to graduate.

On the other hand, there was a blue-themed shugo chara holding a stopwatch. Why? Miki was timing Amu. Hinamori Amu was freaking out, trying to decide how to accessorize for graduation. She was thinking about several things, such as her guy problems. She had decided on one guy, but was afraid to tell the other one that. She picked up the heart hair clip Tadase-kun had bought her that time, and decided to wear it. Why not? It was pretty after all… The pinkette was running out of time. She ran downstairs, grabbed a piece of buttered toast, and hightailed it to school.

They were all on their way to the Royal Garden. It was a bittersweet occasion, of course. Tadase, Amu, Rima, and Nagi were graduating and joining their friend, Souma Kukai in middle school. But Yaya was staying in Elementary school another year. The guardians were breaking up. They were still friends, but they knew that they probably wouldn't see each other as often as they used to.

The five of them arrived at the Royal Garden at much the same time. They just looked at each other, pasted a smile on their faces, and walked in. No one knew who was inside waiting for them.

It turned out to be none other than their friend, Kukai. He was twirling a basketball on one finger. He threw the ball up, caught it, and flashed the group a smile. "Didn't expect to see me here, did you." In fact they didn't. Except Yaya anyway.  
"Yuiki-san?" Tadase inquired "Did you know about this?" By this, he meant the streamers that encircled the Royal Garden. "Surprise" Yelled out all the girl charas. They flew back to their respective owners. Musashi and Kiseki waited a second, and fluttered out without all the screaming that the girls had. The four soon-to-be-graduates looked at each other, at Kukai, at Yaya, Back to Kukai, and then amongst themselves. Amu started to giggle. Rima smiled, as did Tadase. Kusukusu screamed out "Ready...FUNNY FACE!" and all the charas-but Rhythm, Temari, Kiseki, and Musashi joined in the fun as they made funny faces. Everyone started to laugh. Even one voice behind the group. They all looked at the entrance. Tadase said friendly "Hello..."

Me: To be continued. Sorry if it's bad just tell me. It's my first, so...i understand. Just say something. And yeah, its short, but if somone likes it I'll write more next chapter.

Yaya: Aww! Meyumi-chi is mean!

Kukai: *hands Yaya candy to calm her down*

Tadase: At least in this one I'm not a girl.

Everyone: *sweatdrops*

Rima: Please Review when you finish reading. If you don't you're a baka.

Tadase:Mashiro-san be polite, or Meyumi-san will not update!

Amu: But really, please review when you finish! And Meyumi-chan will turn into a turkey.

Me: Yeah, what they said...wait wha?


	2. Prophecy

**Me: *pops in* Hi! Meyumi-chan is back! First, thanks everyone for their reviews. Otherwise, I would have waited. Gah, I ought to be asleep right now. *yawns***  
**Tigergirl98 - I don't exactly know what the pairings are right now. It will just come out as it is.**  
**((EDIT: And Sorry, this was meant to go up last night, but I got too tired to...Gomen))**

**Edit: 10-13-11: Hi guys! So I just started fixing up the first few chapters...they're confusing and terrible. Hard for me to read through. Something had to be done. :T It will be slow, for the same reason my stories aren't going all that fast. I promise that I'm not giving up on Forever, Relationships, Bonds, or any other stories I have started. That and like this chapter, the chapters I redo might have name changes. Don't worry-it means nothing. And the content isn't changing. I'm just cleaning it up a bit. For example, in one chapter I have Dia as a character, but it becomes a plot point that she's an egg. Stuff like that. See yalls later!  
**

**Nagi: Yay!**

**Rima: I guess I can deal with that.**

**Me: You know you love it.**

**Rima: *rolls eyes***

**Kukai: *grins* My turn! Meyumi-chan... *is interrupted by Yaya***

**Yaya: Does not own us, Shugo Chara in general, or any copyrighted things that may come up in this chapter.**

**Kukai: But it was my turn!**

**Everyone: *sweatdrops***

Prophecy

_Kusukusu screamed out "Ready...FUNNY FACE!" and all the charas-but Rhythm, Temari, Kiseki, and Musashi joined in the fun as they made funny faces.  
Everyone started to laugh. Even one voice behind the group. They all looked at the entrance. Tadase said friendly "Hello.._

...Tsukasa-san. What brings you here today?" All of the Guardians expressed surprise in their own special, special ways. This included Yaya's screaming, which scared off some birds nesting on the roof of the Royal Garden. As well as Rima's icy glare and Amu's naive smile.

"Hello, Tsukasa-san!" She greeted. He smiled in return.

"If you all could join me in the planetarium for a moment..." Tsukasa motioned for them to follow. The friends did as he wanted, lightly chattering about pleasantries as they walked through the halls, ignoring the calls of the few students who happened to be in school that day. Once they reached his office, Tsukasa moved a book-the same one as Tadase did that time- and stepped through, leaving the Guardians to follow.

The charas were following behind them, in their own crowds. Miki was going on about teaching them how to draw portraits. They all skedaddled, got some sketchbotooks, and sat down, each chara across from another, and tried to draw each other.

None sensed the chara that was stalking in the shadows, out of sight. His owner was safely hidden, up in a tree near the planetarium's lesser-known forest entrance. He had dark blue ears and similar hair, with a tail that swished every few seconds. He put his large, dark blue paws to his pudgy face and mewed to himself. _This is going to be fun._ He thought to himself as he went down towards the charas. _Fun things always happen when they're around~nya._ All of them had sketchbooks out and were following Miki in some preliminary drawing exercises. He paused for a minute to look at Miki. After all, she was the one who stood up for him when the others put him down. For that he was grateful, even though he put on airs of not caring. Still, after a time when no one had extended their senses enough to notice him, the cat-like chara seemed hurt. He decided to go down all the way, and play with the charas.

"Hey!" Kiseki shouted. Miki looked up at him and glared."Ssshh...We have people here who actually want to learn how to draw a portrait." Kiseki didn't tone his voice down one bit. He merely got angry at what Miki said and shrieked even louder. "He stole my crown! The thieving kitty...AFTER HIM!" Kiseki screamed, fist in the air. All the shugo charas just looked at him, and went on drawing. Kiseki muttered to himself, discourteously dropping the sketchbook in his hand with a clack. _Well that's definitely weird. None of them are coming to my assistance today. Perhaps they need their orders repeated?_ "I said, after him!" Dead silence met his request. If one listened closely, they could hear the soft patter of the drizzle on the roof, the hum of the 'stars' on the ceiling. This time the other charas didn't bother even to look up. _Those **Simpletons**._

He spend the next few minutes screaming at the other shugo charas, but they ignored him. He had completely forgotten Yoru in his efforts, and instead attemped (and failed) to rally his troops while the cat got away unscathed, unchallenged and unfollowed._  
_

On the other hand the 'thieving kitty', aka Yoru, was muffling his laughter. He'd stolen Kiseki's crown, but then he frowned. None of the other charas tried to catch up with him to steal back the crown. In fact they were just absentmindedly drawing. Bored, Yoru flew back and tossed Kiseki back his crown and told Kiseki while cracking up, "What an unpopular king you turned out to be." Kiseki's face turned red and he screamed "Wait" and started to chase Yoru around. The other charas weren't paying any attention to that though. Or their drawings, as Kiseki and Yoru had thought. They had been listening to what Tsukasa was saying.

"A new path will appear to you all soon, but the nebula must recognize itself for what it is before it can make the beautiful shining star that it is destined to make. But if it waits too long, then another will take it's place." Tsukasa was saying. "Also, the star must recognize itself for what it is, instead of what it lacks." All of the Guardians looked at him as if he had grown another head. Tsukasa laughed. He was used to it. Not many grasped his way of explaining things. It had, in fact, been suggested strongly that he get out more. Not that he understood _that _speech.

"Anyway," Tsukasa continued, snapping the Guardians back into reality. "You really should get to the graduation ceremony. They can't be missing their guests of honor. Remember, you will find the best of things in the most unexpected of places. Candid. Unexpected. There is more to the world than what is right in front of you, much more to the world..." Tsukasa trailed off on a tangent, muttering to himself inaudibly. And just like that, hell broke loose within the Guardians.

The first thing that happened was the chara changes. Yaya was sitting on the floor, bawling her eyes out and yelling "Why do you all have to go?" Rima Bala-balanced to try to cheer Yaya up. Nagihiko caught her in a character change with Rhythm before she fell. Tadase was saying how the 'king' must lead the way to the graduation. Amu stood off to the side, where she and Miki were intensely focused on their drawing pads, because the scene was seriously too funny not to draw. It was the epitome of the Guardians. Tsukasa laughed.

Eventually, under duress, they all made their way to the auditorium. For once, Amu wore her cape. It was her second and last time wearing it ever. She shuddered at the thought. Partly at the thought of graduating. After all, how could the baby do as the leader? But, another part of it was annoyance at wearing the cape, as auspicious a day as it was. "Cold, Hinamori?" Kukai asked, standing behind them. They had forgotten him with Tsukasa's speech. "See ya all later!" He dribbled a soccer ball away from them. Before she knew it, Amu had chara changed with Ran, and they were chasing after Kukai. They all laughed.

Amu remembered what she wanted to tell Yaya. Turning to the younger Guardian, Amu said "See us off with a smile, ok! Else I'll be too scared to graduate." Kukai, who was still in earshot, grinned. He called back. "Hey, Hinamori! That's plagiarism!" Everyone laughed as Kukai turned around, and with a final grin at his friends, ran off to school. Finally, they turned to the doors of the auditorium. Each stared at them for a moment. After a second, they all walked in.

**Me: Hi again! It's only been two days since I put this up, and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback! Really boosts me up, as this is my first. Again, both complements and constructive criticism are welcomed.**

**Kukai: *death glare at Yaya and Utau***

**Utau: What?**

**Yaya: AAAHHH! *is scared* You were much more cheerful in the story.**

**Kukai: *Dark aura* Back off**

**Tsukasa: Looks like we have quite the atmosphere here! Are we now in the ionosphere?**

**Tadase: Tsukasa-san...**

**Me: *facepalm* You can talk like a normal person now, Tsukasa-san.**

**Amu: *facepalm* You guys seem to have forgotten the true purpose behind all this. Anyway, please Review! You don't want to make Meyumi-chan mad, do you?**

**Me: *dark aura* Trust me, you don't**

**Everyone: *sweatdrops* Review PLEASE!**


	3. Graduation

**Me: SO SORRY! It's been four days. I meant to update sooner, but...**

***mysterious voice*: She was watching the ending that really wasn't the ending of...**

**Me: URESAI! Wait...where did that voice come from. **

***dead silence, a cricket's chirp is heard from the distance***

**Yaya: Don't graduate!**

**Everyone: *facepalm***

**Nagihiko: It was eventually going to happen.**

**Rima: Don't worry Yaya! We'll visit!**

**Me: Oooh...Disclaimer time!**

**Kukai: Yay! Finally. Yo! Over here! My turn!**

**Me: Yes, Kukai?**

**Kukai: Meyum-*is cut off***

***mysterious voice*: Meyumi-chan does not own Shugo Chara.**

**Kukai: Ok, thats it. Next person to interrupt me gets it.**

**Everyone: *backs off***

**Me: T-t-time to st-st-start the s-st-story t-t-then...**

Graduation

The auditorium went silent for a second as we paused by the door. The Guardians were always a sight. As they went through the middle of the room, they walked swiftly. Their capes fluttered behind them. All you could hear was the oooh's and aaah's of the student body. 'Cool n' Spicy' 'Prince...' and all the other honoifics associated with the Guardians. All of them had their outer characters showing, except Yaya since she didn't _have_ and outer character.

Eventually, they made it up to the front of the auditorium. Tadase poked the microphone, apparently satisfied with the loud note of feedback such an action would produce. "Konichua" He started, smiling. Soon all the fangirls were screaming and would not down to listen. Eventually, they would. Hopefully. The rest of the Guardians sweatdropped. Tadase fidgeted with his papers while he waited for the crowd to quiet down. "It's been..." He started. He had the attention of the whole school. He smiled.

At one point, he finished his speech. ((Timeskip, I tried writing the speech but it was too ooc or too boring.)) The whole room erupted into cheers. The four graduating guardian members plastered smiles on their faces. Yaya, on the other hand, was crying. They all greeted everyone who came to get their graduation certificate with a congratulations. Finally, it was their turn. Tsukasa-san, playing his role as Chairman, stood up. Everyone watched as he went up to the front. _Tsukasa-san, what are you thinking?_ Tadase mentally asked. The Guardians shared a wordless look of confusion. Tsukasa-san started to talk.

"Today is a wonderful day, if a harrowing one. It is a time of many beginnings and ends. Congratulations to all of you who are graduating from Seiyo Elementary today. Keep pursuing your dreams and becoming the main character of your own story, even once you depart us here for middle school. Now, for the final graduates-four of our very own Guardians will be leaving with you today. Hotori Tadase, Fujisaki Nagihiko, Mashiro Rima, Hinamori Amu." He handed each of them a certificate. "Even with all of you leaving, do not think of it as an end, but as another beginning. For both you, moving on to higher learning as a whole, and the Guardians. Once again congratulations and good luck in middle school."

Soon, the graduation ceremonies were over, and the student body walked back outside. Except the Guardians. They were taking off their capes. One by one, the handed them to Tsukasa-san. Rima and Nagihiko each handed it to him. Amu looked at it for a second, and then handed it over, a small smile gracing her face. Tadase was just looking down at it. Tsukasa-san smiled at him. Tadase just looked at him. Kiseki floated up to him. "Tadase" he said, concernedly. "I suppose all good things must end. Leaving the Guardians behind...I can't imagine life without it." Tadase mumbled to himself although Tsukasa heard it and smiled slightly. Looking up, Tadase handed his cape to Tsukasa. "I suppose we must make this into a beginning" he said finally. Tsukasa accepted the cape. "My, my, Tadase. How much you've grown."

Amu, unthinkingly, said "We're all gonna stick together, okay prince!" Hearing this, his eyes widened. "AAAAHHH!" Amu screeched as she realized what she had said. A crown appeared on Tadase's head. All the Guardians went wide-eyed and facepalmed. And frantically started looking for a bucket before Tadase started his proclamation. Tsukasa chuckled. Amu glared at him. "What's so funny about this" Rima pulled a bright blue sand bucket over Tadase's head and held it there for a few seconds, effectively counteracting the character change. "On the other hand, some things never change."

At that, the Guardians departed to the Royal Garden for the last time. Yaya walked inside, to find Hikaru and Rikka. The rest of the Guardians stopped at the door. Yaya looked back at them. She said "Oh right. You guys graduated. You aren't Guardians anymore. But you have to come and visit Yaya like all the time." Once they all promised that they would, they departed for home. Nagihiko walked Rima home and Tadase walked Amu home. They were surprised by what they had found there.

**Me: I feel like things are going no where**.

***mysterious voice*: Well...**

**Kukai: I had better do the disclaimer next time.**

**Everyone: *backs away as Kukai gets a fiery aura***

**Me: Then why don't you say the review line?**

**Kukai: Fine. Plea-*gets cut off***

**Nagihiko: Please read and review. Sorry that it's not better.  
**


	4. Five Pieces

**Me: NUUUU! I was about half done with this, forgot to save, left it on my computer and when I came back a afew hours later I had been auto-logged out, so I lost the story. So, I'm rewriting it. God, I had three ideas totally wrong for this story laying half-done in my list of unpublished stories currently. So, sorry for not putting this up two days ago. Hope you like it!**

***mysterious voice*: SHe got it before she wrote it the first time...seconds before.**

**Me: Uresai!**

**Ikuto: Do I come back in this one?**

**Me: Mayybbbbeeeee...nah, next chapter.  
**

**Amu: Ikuto's here!  
**

**Utau: Ikuto! Ikuto! *tries to hug ikuto***

**Ikuto: Yo, kiddy king.**

**Tadase: Ikuto-niisan, what brings you here?**

**Me: While they have a reunion over there, Amu the disclaimer!**

**Amu: Hai!**

**El: Wait! The heroine...err...hero is here to take the stage.**

**Kukai: Time for the disclaimer. *out of character weird dark fire aura*  
**

**Me & Amu: *sweatdrop***

**Kukai: *turns happy* Yay! Finally. Meyumi-ch...*is cut off***

**Amu: Meyumi-chan does not own Shugo Chara.**

**Kukai: Joto. *kicks soccer ball at Amu's face* Dark Victory Shoot!**

**Tadase: Amu-chan!**

**Ikuto: Amu!**

**Amu: *holds pom-pom shield in front of face* Phew.**

**Everyone: *sighs in relief***

**Me: On with the story then...o.0 It seems some couplings are coming out...not what I expected though.  
**

Five Pieces

On Amu's doorstep, there was a small box. It was addressed to her. The handwriting was unfamiliar. She turned it upside-down. A small thump was audible. She looked at Tadase. He shrugged. "See you tomorrow, Amu-chan!" He said, turning away. Amu stuttered "Ok...see you tomorrow Tadase-kun!" On the bottom was a number. 2. _I wonder what that means,_ Amu thought as she turned it over to open the box.

Nagihiko smiled at Rima as they walked up to her house. Rima glared. "Unflappable Playboy" she murmured as they approached her house. Rima's mother, looking impossibly exhausted like usual, opened the door. "Rima, you got a package. Why don't you open it." She thrust a plain brown cardboard box at her. The only remarkable thing was the number on the bottom. _3_ she thought. Then Rima's mother then noticed Nagihiko for the first time. "Thanks for walking my Rima home." She stated. Nagihiko smiled "It was nothing. See you tomorrow, Rima-chan." Rima almost smiled back at him. Then she remembered her facade. Sighing, she opened the box.

Nagihiko was thinking as he walked home. Thinking about Rima. Before he knew it, he was back at that all too familiar japanese house. Sighing, I walked inside. (err...whats her name? The woman who works for the Fujisakis?) was nowhere to be seen. Good. But neither was Mama. Bad. He heard a rumble outside and walked out to see the postal truck jouncing by. On his doorstep was the normal mail. And a box nearly identical to the one Rima's mom had given Rima. He shook it, hearing a padded thump inside. He remembered the number on the bottom of Rima's box. _3_. He took a look on the sides of his box. He found a number _4_ written on one of the sides. He started to open the box.

Tadase walked away from Amu with a small, tender smile gracing his face. He turned away from Amu fiddling with that box. He needed to get home. His mother was waiting for him. Tadase smiled at the thought, and with one last look at Amu, he walked off. Once he got home, he found his mother. She was holding something. "Tadase, it seems you have mail." She said. She held out a small box to him. Remembering Amu's box, he looked to see if his had a number. _1_. He saw it written in black on the side of the box. He started to rip at the tape that held the box shut.

All four of them were trying to get their boxes open. And the numbers. _1. 2. 3. 4. What do they mean?_ None of them has any suspicion as to what will happen, now that they were sent the box.

Amu finally got hers open. Within heavy coils of bubble wrap and old newspapers, lay a small white stone. It glistened in the glow of the sun. It was shaped almost like a quarter of a circle, but not exactly. It's bottom was flat. Rima, Nagihiko, and Tadase opened their boxes to the same thing. A small white stone. Pocketing the stones, they went on with their daily lives.

A man in a black trench coat happened to see the glint of Amu's stone as she held it up to the sun. He scowled. Well, his face was always twisted in a scowl. His superiors would be pleased. He was on the right track. Now, to choose the right time to take back what was theirs. Easter would get it back-the pieces missing from the puzzle liberated by a certain cat... He scowled again. _Soon. _The man thought to himself_ Soon, I will get my revenge. And it will be sweeter than honey._ There was a determined glint in his eyes as he went back to watching Hinamori Amu. He would get all the pieces. All five of them.

**Ikuto: So I do get into this chapter!**

**Me: *sigh* How do you know that the cat was you. If nothing else, it was just a small reference. **

**Amu&Tadase&Rima&Naghihko: WHITE STONES IN UNLABELED BOXES?**

**Me: *sigh* I can't give anything away. Now, sorry guys for not getting this up when I meant to. Like I said, my computer spazzed out. Therefore I lost my entire story that was unpublished. Now, Kukai, the review message? I do love my reviewers.**

**Kukai: Okay. :D So, guys. Read the story right? Like it? I'm sure not, because my awesome self wasn't in it.**

**Me: Kukai...**

**Kukai: Fine! I'll get on with the program! Please...*is cut off***

**Lulu: Please Read and Review!**

**Everyone: How did you get in here?**

**Kukai: What does it take to be appreciated around here?**

**Me: Oh and guys, I'd like to hear your opinions on Kukai in my disclaimers. Should he get to say one? Who does he kill first? All this and more, after the break.  
**


	5. Tsukasa

**Me: Hiya! I was in the mood to write...so...I started my new chapter. Then I neglected to finish it for about 5 days due to lack of inspiration. Go Figure.*sigh* Oh, and i got a lot of 'white stone? Eek.. Where'd that come from?'. I promise that it didn't come from left field. All will be revealed in good time. Oh and Tigerfighter98, this introduction is in honor of you.  
**

**Kukai: Like if I ever get my turn to do the disclaimer. *black aura*  
**

**All: *deathly silence* *cricket chirp***

**Kukai: *normal aura* ...Guys? Hello? Anyone home? I guess I get to do the disclaimer then. :D  
**

**Ikuto: You gotta get through me first.**

**Kukai: Is that a challenge?**

**Ikuto: What do you think?**

**Kukai: Bring it on.**

**Ikuto: Gladly.**

**Utau: Stop Fighting, you dumbasses!**

**Rima: Meyumi-chan doesn't own Shugo Chara. Or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (for all my readers that got the reference)  
**

Tsukasa

It all was normal-except for graduation of course. A couple weeks past, and they forgot about the stones. All except one. The mysterious guy in a trench coat who freaked the hell out of everyone who saw him-and even more so to those privileged enough to know what he was capable of. The five pieces. In deep thought, he wondered where the other pieces were. Amu had one of them. He knew who had one more. No, he didn't suspect the other ex-guardians. No one, not even he knew what was going to happen next.

Eventually, Tsukasa called all the Guardians over to his office. The four of them met just outside the school gates and exchanged knowing glances. Something was up. Nonetheless, they chatted quietly about neutral topics all the way to the office. He wasn't there. The Guardians winced. First, Yaya went up to the book that they had used on _that_ night. It didn't work. Tadase went up to it and sighed. "It's locked." Is all he said. Then Tadase went back to a different bookcase, and turned the sixth book from the right side of the third shelf from the top which happened to be burnt orange colored with a dull green spine slightly downwards. A panel in the bookcase swung open. Tadase jumped in. We all exchanged a glance before following him.

It was dark. Yaya started to cry. He cries ricocheted off the walls of the room we walked into. Nagihiko felt along the wall until he found a light switch. The lights revealed one of Tsukasa's trademark hallways, his 'hobby' as he called it was making those. Suddenly it came to a dead end. They all looked around, clueless. Suddenly the floor _evaporated_ and they fell in a heap in Tsukasa's tea-room. Tsukasa himself was there sipping tea. He was evidently surprised by the noise of them falling, but as he turned around, his face twisted into a smile.

"How nice of you guys to join me," He said politely. Yaya character changed and started crying and kicking. Rima, Nagihiko, Tadase and Amu all went flying around to the other side of the room. "Yaya!" Amu shrieked as she hit the wall. Rubbing his arm, Tadase helped her up. Nagihiko had hit his knee or something, and was helping Rima up. The boys looked helplessly around as the girls went over to Yaya. Trying to soothe her out of her character change, Amu managed to get kicked in the face.

She mutttered "That's it" angrily, and wordlessly Rima handed her a light blue bucket-the one they used to stop Tadase's character change. Make a note that this bucket is extremely useful. Even more so than a towel. After about four seconds, the kicking stopped, and Yaya was normal. All the Guardians merely sighed in relief. Tsukasa laughed. The Guardians glared at him.

Tadase started "Tsukasa-san, I know you were being helpful in trying to tell me another way to find you, but do you think you could have warned us about an evaporating floor?"

Tsukasa laughed. "Evaporating? It moved."

Tadase glared dully at his uncle. "And we didn't move with it?"

Tsukasa smiled. "No you didn't. But, there is a reason I called you guys here today. Can any of you guess what it is?"

Tadase glared. Tsukasa was playing with them. Tsukasa smiled back. "The storm is about to break. The nebula has not produced a star. The nebula is confused and cloudy. Part of it is whirling away. You may be able to bring all five pieces together. But that isn't the question. The star is merely a stepping stone to greater things."

_Flashback_

_"A new path will appear to you all soon, but the nebula must recognize itself for what it is before it can make the beautiful shining star that it is destined to make. But if it waits too long, then another will take it's place." Tsukasa was saying. "Also, the star must recognize itself for what it is, instead of what it lacks." All of the Guardians looked at him as if he had grown another head. _

_End Flashback_

The Guardians shared the memory, then nodded at Tsukasa. He motioned them to seats at the table, set with teacups brimming with savory hot tea. There was some polite chat over the tea, and the Guardians had to go. Before they left, Tsukasa motioned them to stay for a second. Besides, how were they going to leave anyway? Through the hole they fell down through? No, that already closed up. They all stopped and turned. Tsukasa pondered for a second how to ask them this, and then said "Have you recieved anything strange lately?"

They all looked at each other. Yaya was the first to answer. "Yaya hasn't gotten anything lately!" Rima was about to say the same thing, when she remembered the stone. She pulled it out of her pocket and discreetly questioned "Does this count as strange?" Amu looked at it, and said, "Wait, I got something like that too, but it was awhile ago." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her stone. The Humpty lock fell out with it. "Oops," she muttered to herself as she stooped to pick it up. Tadase and Nagihiko glanced at the girls, at eachother and pulled out the other two identical stones.

They were white but dull, and clean cut and unmarred. They were curious really, and more so was the fact that Tsukasa's eyes widened and he put his hand to his chin in thought as he looked from Rima to Tadase to Nagihiko to Amu and the lock. He smiled. "It seems that one piece is still missing to the puzzle of the star. Be diligent in finding it." He made no comment on the stones. Even though he thought he recognized them from somewhere...

_Meanwhile..._

The guy in the trench coat picked up his clunky black cell phone. "Hello?" His gruff voice asked, evidently annoyed by the interruption.

"Komichu, get your ass moving. I want the embryo. Now."

"Fine." Came his response. Komichu hung up. He had boded his time, quietly waiting in the shadows looking for that Hinamori Amu girl. She had at least one piece. He found out that she also happened to be the holder of the Humpty Lock. _That makes my job easier-one less thing to track, _he thought to himself satisfied. _Just you wait, Hinamori Amu, just you wait. The worst is about to come. _He saw the Guardians of Seiyo Academy-where Amu went to school-walking down the street. Four of them-including Amu- were holding white stones. _Hah!_ He thought. _I've caught you, little ones._ His job was going better than he could ever guess. Four pieces down...he looked at the golden base of the Dumpty Key, hanging off his belt chain. He smiled. Soon he would have it all. And there would be nothing to stop him. _  
_

_With the Guardians..._

Tadase was staring at the little crystalline stone in his hand. As was the other three. Yaya broke the uncomfortable silence with a complaint. "Why don't I get a stone too? Yaya wants a stone!" Yaya started walking backwards and fell into a pile of warm, wet, sticky, slimy, brown mud. The four of them laughed. Yaya glared. Amu gave her a hand up, and Yaya muttered "Now Yaya's all dirty."

Still, the little comic relief did little for the other part of the Guardians' problems. The walked the rest of the way home in a somber silence, each thinking about what Tsukasa had said. Tsukasa, on the other hand, was smiling at the stars on the roof of the planetarium. His planetarium. The Lock ... the Key... the stones that the Guardians found ... the strange random but not totally unrelated guy that had snuck in on the shadows of the school...his stars...

He was jerked into reality by one little thing. The only trace he had been there was the still running stars in the planetarium, the scruff his boots left on the floor, a stray piece of hair that fell from his head, and the sound of footsteps in the distance.

**Me: Sorry for not updating! I did start Missing, but thats no excuse and I know it. But call this Amends? Onegai?**

**Komichu: Heh heh heh...**

**Me: That sounds like Hikaru's laugh.**

**Hikaru: I take offense at that.**

**Me: *sweatdrop* I didn't see you there, Hikaru. And you, Komichu, the only character I own in this whole shibang, get outta here! Komichu?**

**Hikaru: He left. And you should probably bread Ikuto and Kukai up.**

**Me: What, they're dating?**

**Hikaru: Noo...they're fighting.**

**Me: Oh. Just fighting. *whistles* *hears vase break* *facepalm* I'll go break them up now...**

**Hikaru: *shrugs as Meyumi leaves* If you have read through this so far, then you might as well write a review.**

**Me: *pokes head back in* Hikaru, say please!  
**


	6. Everything in it's Place

**Me: Kyaa! Another update! The story ideas are flowing now, but replying to some of your reviews would be...too spoilerish. It was spolierish enough what I revealed last chapter.  
**

***mysterious voice* I dont think they are listening. **

**Me: *is annoyed, goes to room where the fight happened and calls in through door*Bring out your dead!**

**(Inside Room)**

**Tadase: What do we do now, Fujisaki-kun? *checks Ikuto's pulse***

**Nagihiko: No clue...**

**Yaya: *glares at Kukai***

**Utau: Great. My boyfriend kills my brother. *glares***

***Tadase and Nagihiko look at each other and start dragging Ikuto outside***

**Ikuto: I'm not dead yet.**

**Me: *peeks in* But you will be soon.**

**Ikuto: But I'm getting better!**

**Me: Fine. Stay.**

**Kukai: Meyu-Why is everyone glaring at me like that?**

**Ikuto: It's the hard knock life for us, it's the hard knock life for us! **

**Kukai: No one cares about you, a snitch**

**Ikuto: When you live in an orphanage. **

**All: It's the hard knock life!**

**Me: Uhh...well then. 0-0 Meyumi-chan does not own Shugo Chara, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or Annie.**

Everything in it's Place

_What just happened?_

_With the Guardians..._

_Tadase was staring at the little crystalline stone in his hand. As was the other three. Yaya broke the uncomfortable silence with a complaint. "Why don't I get a stone too? Yaya wants a stone!" Yaya started walking backwards and fell into a pile of warm, wet, sticky, slimy, brown mud. The four of them laughed. Yaya glared. Amu gave her a hand up, and Yaya muttered "Now Yaya's all dirty."_

_Still, the little comic relief did little for the other part of the Guardians' problems. The walked the rest of the way home in a somber silence, each thinking about what Tsukasa had said. Tsukasa, on the other hand, was smiling at the stars on the roof of the planetarium. His planetarium. The Lock ... the Key... the stones that the Guardians found ... the strange random but not totally unrelated guy that had snuck in on the shadows of the school...his stars..._

_He was jerked into reality by one little thing. The only trace he had been there was the still running stars in the planetarium, the scruff his boots left on the floor, a stray piece of hair that fell from his head, and the sound of footsteps in the distance._

Ok. So that guy may be strange, but he was not random and definitely related. Tsukasa woke up on a cold metal floor to see Ikuto leaning over him. "Oh you're finally awake." the catboy said quietly and demurely. "I was wondering when you'd come to."

It was quite odd to see Ikuto so serious...so sad. And wait, wasn't he supposed to be looking for his dad in eastern Europe? Tsukasa merely frowned. "The stars are right, once again. And the nebula is but a part of the problem." Ikuto, luckily for him, was accustomed to Tsukasa's talk of stars in a way that most people who knew him lacked. Though he supposed it was from their first trip to look for their father when Ikuto was twelve.

"The stars? You mean you knew?"

Tsukasa nodded. Ikuto started shaking uncharacteristically.

"First off, I have no clue where we are-but in a soundproofed room right next to the street-we can hear the conversations going on outside from in here. The catch is they can't hear us. I came here about a week ago. I've tested every place where one might get out." Ikuto continued breathlessly. "Also, Yoru doesnt seem to be here. Have you seen him around?"

Tsukasa shook his head, no he hadn't seen Yoru since Ikuto had left, a few months ago. "Well, you've been out for about half a day." Ikuto finished and turned away. "At least I got the key away from him-at least most of it."

Tsukasa replied thoughtfully "I think I know exactly what you are talking about.

_At school..._

"Pardon the intrusion," Tadase called before he went into his uncle's office. His uncle wouldn't mind but...it was polite. Seeing the empty office, he sighed and walked over to the book that led to the passage the Guardians had fallen through the previous day. "Pardon the intrusion," the blonde called again, waiting for the piece to move so he could jump down with out hurting himself. It wasn't moving. Tadase frowned and put one foot on it. It suddenly opened up and Tadase fell through. He hit his head on the floor. Rubbing it, he looked around. His uncle wasn't there. That was strange...Tadase shrugged and decided to go check the planetarium. It was the only other possible place his uncle could be.

He walked through yet another colorfully useless passage that led to the planetarium. He opened the door saying "Pardon the intrusion..." and before him were the stars-but an empty planetarium otherwise. Tsukasa was just out. Yeah, out. Getting coffee. And he wasn't back in timefor the first time in four years to take his report on Guardian activities, every week half past three on-the-dot. Right...Tadase shook his head in frustration and incomprehension as he walked the spotless floor to the exit leading out to the forest path. Not quite spotless-he saw a small lock of hair on the ground. Tsukasa's. Tsukasa always kept it spotless. But today, Tadase had to get to the Guardians meeting. They would be worried about him. He could look for him-but Tsukasa could be back tomorrow. Tomorrow was another day.

Class had just let out. Four of the Guardians had made their respective ways over to the Royal Garden. They sat at their seats, waiting for Tadase to show up. "Ehhhhhh? Where's Tadase?" Yaya asked. Amu shrugged. "And he called for this emergency meeting too!"

Rima took a swig of her tea and turned the cup in her hands. "He should be here..."

The door to the Royal Garden suddenly opened, interrupting the Queen. "Mina-san! Sorry for being late!" Tadase said.

Rima continued somewhat coolly "...any second now."

Nagihiko sweatdropped. "At least you were right, Rima." he said.

Yaya suddenly shouted "YAYA WANTS CANDY!"

Amu laughed as she dug into her bag. Pulling out a flashy candy bar, Yaya looked at her as if she had just descended from Heaven. ((Note: Not saying there is heaven, or not just you get the idea...like Rima with the Goddess of Comedy that time.)) The other Guardians flashed her glances that ranged from shock to surprise to confusion to those little inquiring dips of the head. Amu just shrugged. "You can't be too prepared for a certain character change," She said pointing to the bucket near the table. Tadase flushed. "Or just Yaya's insane love for candy."

Yaya grinned at that last statement. "Yaya does love candy. Yaya says Thank You to Amu-chi!"

Amu shrugged and went back to the task at hand. "Tadase, why were you late?" she asked anxiously.

Tadase grimaced and went on to explain Tsukasa's disappearance and showed them the hair. They decided to wait before acting-who knows, Tsukasa could be at a meeting that ran late, he could be sick-Tadase doubted this- there could be any number of reasons he wasn't there. No one could explain the hair though. Maybe it fell off his head as he walked away? Or...

Yaya stood up, entranced by her sudden character change. "YAYA DOES NOT WANT TO DO THIS RIGHT NOW! FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FU-" Is cut off by Nagihiko putting the bucket over her head Tadase style. Rima did the countdown, and three seconds later Yaya was normal again. They all sighed in relief. Making eye contact, all the Guardians laughed.

Amu stood up. "While we're here, I'm wondering about those stones. Tsukasa was so interested in them yesterday. Besides, mine glows when you put it near the lock. The design is similar. But the lock is perfectly fine. You guys got anything?"

Nagi shook his head, spewing purple hair that hit Rima in the face. "No with-sorry Rima-chan."

Rima glared at him. "Put your hair somewhere else, eggplant."

Nagi looked at her. "Eggplant, huh? Anyway," Nagihiko paused to take the stone out of his pocket. "nothing out of the ordinary. I have to admit though, the designs are similar."

Rima looked pointedly away from Nagihiko. "Mine has been nonreactive as of yet. I'll be swift in informing you if that changes. The design is indeed similar. Do they have anything to do with each other? Rima wondered aloud.

Tadase looked around and took our his stone. "It seems familiar somehow. Kiseki senses it too. But I don't know how. It was another thing that I was planning to ask Tsukasa today."

The Guardians looked around the table again. Amu took the initiative and summed it up. "So basically we are a bunch of kids who have strange white stones. Someone watching too many movies or something?" The last part was said with noticeable bite and distaste. The pinkette looked around the table. "I'd like to figure out the true meaning of these. Do you guys think that it has anything to do with the Lock or something?"

"Or something." Nagi butted in. "As you said, the lock is whole and perfectly fine. So I doubt it has to do with the Lock. What else could it be though?" He said looking like a kid who just won three chocolate bars. And handed them all to Yaya for all the lack of response from the people at the Royal Garden.

_With Komichu..._

On the other hand, Komichu watched the Guardians talk. He was going to get those stones. No matter what. Without Tsukasa, there goes the Guardians' spiritual and atronomical guy. As well as the one who had been feeding them so much of their irreplaceable insights. He thought back to that room. He might be awake-maybe maybe not. It didn't matter.

They had the stones-the four pieces of the puzzle he had been missing. The fifth...he grinned at he looked down to the golden charm on his belt chain. It had to be more than a charm-the key. Well, the five pieces that made up half the puzzle. Why the stones and the Key were connected? Komichu shook his head. He had work to do. He stared at the lock on the Joker's egg pouch. It had to be it. Now he could truly smile to himself. He knew where all the pieces were.

Komichu smirked as he watched the five Guardians chatter. Well, the four ex-Guardians and the Guardian. Well, four who were Guardians in their own respect. Now he just had to plan to get those damned stones away from them...

_With the Guardians..._

"So no one has any ideas whatsoever" Tadase summed up. Rima looked at him.

"Thanks so much Captain Obvious."

Nagihiko smiled at Rima's sarcastic retort. "You're welcome Lieutenant Sarcasm"

Rima scowled and Tadase looked around. Amu took the initiative. "So what now?"

"Now you explain what's going on."

"Explain?" The Guardians turned to this new unknown voice in surprise.

**Me: SO Sorry that this took so long. At least it's a little longer than my previous updates. Managed to get sick-still am sick...  
And at least I got to this before I got to Missing. **

**Ikuto: So this is what you meant. How'd I get captured?**

**Me: To be found out later.**

**Komichu: Why am I so evil?**

**Me: I needed an evil character. And so I made an OC. The only OC I plan on putting in this story.**

**Tsukasa: I do need to tidy up that Planetarium. And I want my cards back. So please review so that I can go back.**

**Me: *rubs temples* I got him taken because I didn't want to have to deal with him. But I suppose he's right.**

**All: Please forgive Meyumi!**

**Me: *sweatdrop*  
**


	7. Conflict Within

**Me: Whoo...I's been awhile. SORRY GUYS! I just didn't have the time to update-I had a hell of a time the past week.  
**

**Ikuto: So you didn't forget about us.**

**Me: Of course not. Even though I didn't write I came up with 90% of the plot. Oh and Ikuto's out of the hospital!  
**

***cheers***

**And now...Kukai?**

**Kukai: Can no one rudely interrupt me this time?**

**Everyone: *whistles innocently***

**Kukai: Meyumi-chan-**

**Ikuto: Obviously does not own shugo chara, us, or any licensed things that may end up in this story.**

**Kukai: You wanna end up in the hospital again?**

Conflict Within

_Last Chapter..._

_Rima scowled and Tadase looked around. Amu took the initiative. "So what now?"_

_"Now you explain what's going on."_

_"Explain?" The Guardians turned to this new unknown voice in surprise._

Kukai grinned back at the Guardians. After a second of surprise, Yaya shot up to him much like a speeding bullet. "KUKAI!" Her shriek would have been able to be heard from the other side of town. He just chuckled and let the little girl cling to him. A bit of lighthearted conversation followed, mostly Kukai trying to get Yaya to let go. After they had all had a good laugh, Kukai nodded his head again. "So, guys. What did I miss?"

The four graduates spared each other a glance before reaching into their respective pockets. Palming the stones that caused them such confusion, they put them on the table in front of them. Almost as an afterthought, Amu also placed the Humpty Lock next to her stone. Both let off a dim glow, barely recognizable in the light of the sun. Kukai raised an eyebrow. "And this means...what exactly?"

Rima said in a quiet, small voice "We don't know."

Kukai stared down at them. "Huh. They do look similar to the Lock's stones."

Amu interrupted him. "We've gotten that far. But, look. All the pieces of the lock are still in one piece. So for all they look similar, they aren't the same."

Tadase also put in his two cents. "Indeed. But the similarities are quite hard to ignore. It's confusing."

Kukai turned to Tadase "Have you asked your uncle about it? After all, he was holding on to the Lock until Amu transferred here two years ago."

Tadase looked at his hands; his knuckles had gone white with the stregnth he was putting into grasping the table.

Kukai looked at him curiously. "What is it? Did I say something?"

"No-nothing, Souma-kun. It's just that he wasn't there when I went to look. He wasn't in the office, the planetarium, or the little study we fell into"

"You guys fell into a study?" Kukai laughed. The five of them glared.

"Whats so funny about that?" Rima asked. She was getting that fiery aura. Kusukusu flew up.

"Rima! Chara change!"

Little markings appeared on Rima's cheeks. The others looked at her, but none went for the bucket. Kukai had it coming. "What's so funny about that? How DARE you laugh when nothing's funny!" Rima roared.

Kukai backed up a little, surprised at her change. He looked at his smirking friends in dismay. Then he caught sight of the bucket so often used to counteract Tadase's character change. Would it work? he thought silently. He found himself between the stairs and the resting place of said bucket. Picking it up, he turned back to the petite blonde. He lightly pushed the bucket over her head. A few seconds later, Rima was back to normal. She went back to the table and sat, fussing with her hair. To Kukai, she said "Great. Now you messed up my hair. What are you going to do about it?"

Nagihiko snorted. "Rima, be nice."

Rima muttered "You don't have any idea what it's like to have the pressure of being a girl; to keep your appearance perfect all the time no matter what and whatnot. _**Oh, wait. You DO.**_"

Nagihiko froze. Tadase's eyes slid sideways to meet Kukai's. It was then that the realization dawned on the three of them that Amu and Yaya _still_ had no idea that Nagihiko was the last Queen's Chair before Rima-Fujisaki Nadeshiko. Or rather that Nadeshiko was him and that he was a cross-dresser. They sweatdropped. Rima delicately took a sip of her tea. Amu and Yaya were taking a look around in confusion.

This reminded Nagihiko about the other thing that he had to tell them. Sighing, he met Amu's eyes. He saw the unasked question within. Turning away, he wondered how much longer that the facade would hold up. How long he had before he had to tell them. Tell them it all.

Kukai put the bucket back by its resting place, the loud clang breaking the awkward silence that had settled on the Guardians like a cloak after Rima's inconsiderate comment. Everyone looked at him for a second, then there was Yaya's inevitable outburst. "Yaya thinks she's out of the loop. Yaya doesn't like being out of the loo-COOKIES!"

Amu waved a package of cookies in front of Yaya's face. Her eyes got all big and sparkly. "Thanks, Amu-chi!"Forgetting the earlier conversation, she dug into the precious sweets as if there was no tomorrow. Amu just smiled back at the eating girl. Then she turned to the others, who were looking on in a mixture of shock and amusement. "But really, what were you talking about, Rima?"

Rima looked at her. "If you are oblivious enough to miss it even now, then get eggplant to tell you."

"Who are you calling eggplant, Rima-chan?" Nagihiko inquired innocently.

Rima looked at him over the rim of her teacup. "You."

Amu was getting annoyed and it was obvious. Her face was getting red and finally she stood and pushed her hands on the table, knocking even Yaya out of her daze. "Fine then. Nagi, what are you hiding."

Nagi looked at her. He was getting worried, but he put on the emotionless face he had acquired after years of dancing, pushing the growing emotion out of his face. "What are you talking about, Amu-chan."

Amu looked around. "It's obvious. Except for Yaya, anyway, but she seems to be out of the loop as well. You're not smiling, Nagi. Tadase and Kukai are being quiet and seem to be avoiding me. I'm not sure how Rima fits into this. But that's upside down." She pointed to the pile of papers that Tadase was holding, and apparently caught the total intent attention of Tadase and Kukai. "No-that side of it's blank." Amu continued.

Nagihiko sweatdropped. 'Guys..." Two heads snapped to attention. Rima sighed and calmly looked up. Amu glared. The charas sort of noticed that there was some problem of a sort with their owners-enough so that Ran and Daichi stopped their soccer tournament and Kiseki his speech on World Domination and the Embryo. They turned back to their owners.

Miki started. "Amu-chan...what's going on?"

"Desu" Su added

Pepe started "Are they fighting-dechu?"

Kiseki took the bait as well "Tadase, what's going on?"

Rhythm just floated over to Nagihiko. Nagihiko looked at his chara for a second, but Rhythm wasn't here to talk to Nagihiko per say. It was more that Nagihiko put up a front of talking to Rhythm while Rhythm talked to Temari, who hid in Naghiko's hair, as usual. After about a minute, he nodded and Temari flew out from under his long plum purple locks.

Nagihiko tried to swat Temari out of the air before the others noticed. The others all wore surprised expressions-although they were surprised for different reasons.

Amu relaxed then tensed "Temari? Is that you?"she asked curiously, in a small voice.

Temari smiled "Yes."

Nagihiko sighed and turned to the two ignorant girls. There was no avoiding the conflict now. "Umm...I can explain?"

Amu turned to him, evidently becoming angry again. "Explain?"

Nagihiko frowned. "In the Fujisaki family, all boys have to live as girls to learn how to dance..." he went on to explain. "...so I came to Seiyo Elementary disguised as Fujisaki Nadeshiko. It was annoying at some points, because I couldn't do the athletics I wanted to, because I had to keep up my image. That's probably why Rhythm came along once I came back as a boy. But I was glad to be friends with you, Amu-chan..." He explained some more. After a long three-fourths of an hour of explanations, Nagihiko was finished. Well, not quite finished. He had one question left. "Amu-chan, Yaya-chan, do you guys forgive me for keeping my identity a secret?"

Yaya smiled at him. "Well, Nagi, you told us now, didn't you."

Amu, on the other hand was not so forgiving. "I can't believe you!"

Tadase cut her off. "Amu-chan, he didn't have a choice." He protested.

Amu put her hands on her hips. "It's not that. I'm fine with the whole cross-dressing deal. I'm a little annoyed that he lied to me, but I understand that." Temari nodded as if she expected this. "BUT," Amu went on. "Why are Yaya and I the only ones who didn't know? I mean, if even Rima knows and she barely knows Nadeshiko, then why couldn't you tell me?" With that, she pulled Yaya out of the Royal Garden.

Nagihiko was shocked. He didn't think that Amu-chan would be so angry about that. He was sure she'd be less than accepting about the other. Tadase and Kukai shared a glance, and kept the silence. Rima drained her cup and walked out after Amu. No one quite knew what to do then.

_With Komichu..._

Komichu saw the pinkette storm out of the Royal Garden from his perch in a large tree near that meeting place. It was an unexpected conflict, but it made his job all that much easier. He fingered the key on his belt. Soon, he thought, soon. Soon it would be his. All of them. All four. The four pieces of crystal that powered the Dumpty Key. Now _his_ dumpty key. And that little Lock too. He grinned at the thought. To unlock the Embryo. He would be a winner-no. He would _win._

_With Tsukasa and Ikuto..._

Tsukasa pulled out the deck of cards he always kept in his pocket. He then handed them to Ikuto. Wordless communication passed through the two, and Ikuto pulled out the face cards, the aces and the two jokers. He seperated the red cards and the black cards into their own piles. Then he combined them and shuffled them. Tsukasa smiled. Ikuto remembered that much about him.

Ikuto handed the cards back to Tsukasa, who cut them. He then cut one pile. He did it until there was only three cards in each pile. Tsukasa picked one up, and Ikuto chose one of the two cards, and put it face up on top of the other two. The middle one he turned took out and tossed aside.

Then he flipped them all to see what they were. The black joker was on the bottom. The Jack of Spades was on top. Jack and Joker. Nagihiko and Amu. _What was going on with _those _two? _Tsukasa thought to himself. Ikuto looked at the cards, and then leaned backwards. If he had this much time on his hands, he'd just take a nap.

Tsukasa looked over at Ikuto, almost as if to ask him a question, and merely smiled at his sleeping form. There would be time to come. Sighing, Tsukasa picked up the scattered piles and reshuffled his cards-all of them this time. He might as well do some fortune telling to himself, since he couldn't look to the stars for guidance. _Stay strong. Good luck, Guardians._ was his last thought before drifting off to an uneasy slumber.

**Me: So how about that?  
**

**Nagihiko: So they finally find out that Nadeshiko was me in disguse? *facepalm***

**Amu: I'd be more accepting of that than you'd think. **

**Nagihiko: Umm...am I supposed to answer that? *sweatdrop***

**Hikaru: Sei-san-Tsukiyomi-san and Souma-san are fighting again.**

**Rima: Sei-san?**

**Me: He's talking to me...you can call me Meyumi-chan or just plain Meyumi like everyone else, Hikaru-kun.**

**Hikaru: *shrugs shoulders* **

**Me: WHAT! And Ikuto just got out of the hospital too...*storms out and is heard in background* IKUTO! KUKAI! STOP IT! NOW! YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE ME WHEN I'M ANGRY. YOU WANT TO GO THERE? YOU WANT TO GO THERE! STOP OR BOTH OF YOU WILL END UP IN THE HOSPITAL. ON ACCOUNT OF ME. **

**Rima: *sweatdrop* The cameras are still rolling...I /think/ Meyumi-chan would like you to review. Or you might end up like Kukai and Ikuto if you cross her...eheheheh...**


	8. Conflict Without

**Me: Ugh...wrote the whole chapter and had it deleted. But It's a quicker update so...here's my best try to recreate it. And this was supposed to be the second part of my chapter last night, but it was late when I finished what I uploaded here so I ended up seperating it.  
**

**Tadase: But you can't update-we have to go!**

**Me: Go? Where?**

**Tadase: Over the Rainbow!**

**Me: So you were watching the reruns of The Wizard of Oz over my shoulder, weren't you.**

**Tadase: It's a classic!**

**Me: Not when you're forced to watch it three times due to your sister.**

**Tadase: I don't even have a sister, really.**

**Me: *facepalm* That's not the point...**

***Ikuto walks in holding Kukai in a headlock***

**Kukai: Mey...u...mi...chan...does...**

**Yaya: *walks in* Hey Meyumi-chi!**

**Kukai: ...n-n-n-not...**

**Me: Hello, Yaya!**

**Yaya: What's Kukai doing?**

**Kukai: ...ow-own...**

**Me: The disclaimer. *sweatdrop***

**Yaya: The disclaimer? Why didn't you tell me before! Meyumi-chi does not own Shugo Chara. Otherwise she'd make it obvious that Kaiya or Yairi or whatever you people call it these days would never happen!**

**Kukai: N-n-n-no-not!**

**Me: No? You want Yairi/Kaiya to happen? And now, on with the show! While I stop Kukai from being choked to death by Ikuto.**

Conflict Without

_With the girls..._

"Amu-chi let's get ice cream. Ice cream can work wonders! It can cheer anyone up!" Yaya said, now walking next to Amu.

Amu was, in fact, fuming_. _She couldn't believe her friends kept secrets from her-and not just from her but _only_ her. Everyone else knew. That was what hurt the most. Why hadn't Nagihiko told her? Though the whole part about him being Nadeshiko was a bit awkward, she could understand it. Was it that her friends felt that they couldn't trust her? Or that she wouldn't understand where they were coming from? Why had they kept such a secret from her? Why?

Yaya stared worridly at her pink haired friend. She heard loud panting from somewhere behind her. Looking behind her, she saw the silhouette of her other best friend, Rima. Knowing that Rima couldn't run very quickly, Yaya grabbed the back of Amu's shirt to slow her down. Maybe Rima could explain what was going on.

Amu felt a tug on her shirt. She ignored it and kept walking. It was persistent and starting to get annoying, so she turned around. Rima was rounding the corner. Yaya was tugging on her shirt. _Stop. Wait for Rima._ her eyes seemed to say. Amu was about to swat her away when a sad look came onto Yaya's face. Amu decided better of it. They were in a somewhat busy-but not that busy part of town. There was tarps covering recent construction.

Today though, there were few people around and the clack of Rima's shoes as the pounded the ground in hopes of catching up to her friends. Thoughts ranging from _Hah, the eggplant deserved it_ to _Ahhh! What have I done to Amu? _flew through her head. She ran faster. She had to find her friends. There. She rounded the corner. Amu and Yaya were waiting for her. Now she just had to explain...

"Rima?" Amu asked.

"Obviously."

"Why did you follow us?"

"Because I didn't agree with eggplant."

"Eggplant?"

"Nagihiko."

"Oh." Amu was silent for a second. "Then will you explain why they kept it from me?"

Rima looked away, then into Amu's large golden eyes. They were filled with unshed tears. Rima shook her hair out and nodded. She gestured at the bench nearby and Amu sat down on it. They started to talk.

_With Tsukasa and Ikuto..._

Ikuto woke up to see something blue on his nose. Blue and furry...he went to pick it up, when he heard a snore-nya. What is a snore-nya, you ask? Ikuto grinned as he pulled a sleeping Yoru off his face. The catlike chara was still sleeping. In fact, it was batting something in it's sleep. "Give back the catnip-nya!" his voice muttered. Ikuto smiled. "Anything but the catnip-nya!"

Tsukasa woke up as well. The thing that Yoru had been swatting was Tsukasa's nose after all. Once it wasn't there anymore, Yoru woke up with a start. "Ikuto-nya!"

"Yoru. How did you get in here?"

"I flew in when that guy opened the door-nya. You were sleeping-nya."

Ikuto was about to say something but he stopped hearing voices from outside. In a wordless character change, his blue ears appeared, disguised partially in his midnight hair. He could hear the girl's conversation.

_With the girls..._

Amu was gripping her handle of the bench tightly. "Why?"

Rima looked at her. "Why what?

"Why didn't they tell me?"

Rima was silent. "I don't know." That wasn't strictly a lie. "I found out by accident. The only time it helped me to be a slow runner. _That_ night..." She felt rather than saw Amu flinch. "_That _night, that final b attle against Easter, I heard something. You remember when we ran into Saeki Nobuko-sensei, right? Well, she recognized Naghiko as Nadeshiko. And since unlike you, Yaya, and Tadase who had all run ahead, I was close enough to hear it. So I asked him about it." Rima stopped.

Amu pressed on. "And...?"

Rima started again. "And so-"

Yaya cut her off. "Amu-chi! Rima-chi! Yaya wants candy!"

Pepe floated over from where the charas were having a similar conversation to remind everyone that "Yaya does not work well with tense situations."

Rima looked at Amu expectantly. Amu shrugged. "Sorry. I gave Yaya my last chocolate bar the _last_ time she said she wanted sweets. We need to get her something." They both sighed, looked at each other, and giggled. They were best friends-or close to it anyway. They could work through this.

_With Komichu..._

Komichu was hidden behind a tree, partway between the Royal Garden and where the girls were having their little chat group. He talked into his walkie talkie so that it didn't have to be loud. Loud meant noticed. "Cue the lights show."

"Lights, Camera, Action" Came the codeword response. If someone was listening onto their conversation, the likelihood of them understanding their code words was slim. The guy smiled evilly as he tapped the Dumpty key and hummed a bit. Suddenly a group of maybe three dozen X eggs appeared. H_e _groaned and shooed them pointed away, towards the girls. So not what he needed right now-the other part wasn't ready. Then the lock glowed a bit, and a transparent rainbow-like wall appeared in Komichu's mind's eye when he touched the key again. Ahh...there it was. The male guardians would be clueless. Completely, Insanely, Irrevocably clueless.

The perpetrator walked away from the soon to be scene, after giving a head shake to one of the men in those suit-uniforms. He had a better vantage point to watch this unfold from. And so he wouldn't get caught-by anyone, especially his coworkers.

_With the girls..._

Rima grinned as she took a bag of cookies out of her pocket. Miniature chocolate chip cookies on the yellow Linden Chocolate Cookies bag caught Yaya's interest, and she tore the bag open as if her life depended on it. "Never know when you'll need it."

Amu shook her head. "So true." Then she quieted. "Can we talk about the whole Nagihiko being Nadeshiko thing?"

Rima noted her friend's distressed voice and her mood darkened in turn. "Nadeshiko being Nagihiko. And sure."

Amu started. "I'm just not sure what they think of me anymore." She stopped. Rima waited for her to continue.

"And?"

"And I'm not sure if they trust me."

Rima went silent. "Of course they do-"

Amu exploded "Of _course_ they do? Then why didn't they tell me until now? Especially after someone like you who never knew Nadeshiko, never became her-his best friend? What would you do when your friend comes up and tells you that they were lying to you for two years-that your best friend was actually them cross-dressing."

Rima looked down at her hands;her knuckles were turning white from clutching the bottom of her short school-skirt.

Amu looked down at her own hands and loosened her grip. Rima did respectively. "I don't get it. I just don't get it."

Rima put her arm around her friend's shoulder. Trying to soothe and comfort her, she started "Amu, I don't think that-that Nagihiko meant to hurt you by not telling you."

Amu looked at her friend and her arm. She shrugged lightly out of the grip. Rima let go. "But it still hurts. What else are they keeping from me? It makes me wonder if I can trust them. If I'm right to believe in them-like I always have. I feel like Nagihiko misused that belief. Believing in someone is supposed to make you feel better. It can also do the opposite. I don't want to not trust them, to not to believe in them. I don't want to. But I don't know what to do."

A silence followed Amu's statement.

"I'm a lost child."

Rima looked at her friend in horror. But before she could say anything, she heard a screech from the charas. The six charas flew up to their owners and in perfect unison they said "X eggs!".

The three girls were up in a second. They all said, again in that annoying perfect unison "My Heart, Unlock!"

"Charanari Clown Drop" Rima announced

"Charanari Amulet Heart" Amu whispered

"Charanari Dear Ba-" Yaya screamed, or at least tried to as she was cut off. Both girls looked for her. Yaya was struggling in the grips of an Easter personnel.

Rima called her attack "Tightrope Dancer!" and so a thick piece of rope twisted itself around Yaya's wrist and lower arm.

Amu was getting farther away from her friends on the ground, then she noticed the predicament they were in. Jumping back down to a reasonable height, she yelled to Rima "Throw me the other end of the rope. And both you and Yaya hang on!"

Rima did as she was told. She readied her juggling pins to be ready for trapping the eggs.

Amu took the rope and called her own specialty. "Heart Speeders!" This time, not only was she wearing speeders but Rima and Yaya had similar roller blades. She tugged on the rope. "Guys remember to hold on!" She screamed so they could hear her.

Meanwhile, the Easter Agents were still trying to get at (very unsuccessfully I may add) the two girls on the ground. Several of them tried to jump, but luckily for Yaya Amu chose that moment to start their getaway. They were speeding on Amu's speeders. When they passed the X eggs, Rima trapped them with her juggling pins.

Amu looked back at her. "Now or Later?"

Rima considered. "Later. We need to get out of the air-who knows how long my and Yaya's roller blades will last."

Amu nodded in affirmation of her friend's choice. It made sense. It was logical. It fulfilled their duties as members of the Guardians of Seiyo Elementary. But... "Okay. I'll drop you guys off...and then double back for the X eggs?"

Rima nodded. "It's the best we can do."

And so they left. Rima and Yaya flowed behind Amu, being dragged along by a thread-rather Rima's rope. All went well and Amu went back and purified the X eggs. But soon they returned to that bench-to find out what Easter was doing after them. They discussed the previous battle. And not once was the cross dresser brought up in their conversation.

_With Komichu..._

Komichu watched the battle from the wall that blocked the chara's senses. Sighing at the prospect of capturing more eggs to replace those cleansed, Komichu jumped down. He landed nimbly on his feel. _Damn them, can't those stupid backstabbing agents do _anything_ right for a change? Now those god damned Guardians know that somethings up. Stupid stones. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid..._

Why couldn't they take the girl and see that her stone is taken. It didn't matter which one-only one of the Guardians didn't have a stone. Chances were that the girl had a stone. Those stones...he needed them. Pronto. No, he needed a new plan. Yesterday.

He muttered angrily and incoherently to himself as he paced the wall, waiting for the report on how they blew the battle. He definitely had some kinks to work out with his Easter turncoat employees. He touched the key's shell again. Empty, he reminded himself. He would have a long chat with them, and then go back to the idea chart. He needed those stones. He needed to complete the lock. The Embryo would not be an impossible goal. Yes, he would unlock the Embryo. _He_ would be the one. He would win.

_With Ikuto and Tsukasa..._

Ikuto snapped back into reality with Tsukasa petting his ears. His cat ears anyway. He shook his head, clearing his head of the character change. Because of it, he had heard most of what went down outside. The girls chatting, the Easter attack, the X eggs and their getaway.

Tsukasa looked at the catboy, who was still half dazed. He then held out a hand full of face down face/joker/ace cards and whatnot.

Ikuto was still in his own world. Tsukasa pinched one ear. Ikuto came out of said world of daydreams and trying to piece together Komichu's plan. Where did he fit in? What about Tsukasa? What abou-...yeah, he was pinched in the ear. He withdrew, snarling involuntarily at Tsukasa. Finally, Yoru released his hold on his owner.

Wordlessly, Tsukasa held out the cards again. Ikuto knew what he wanted. He picked out one card and handed it to Tsukasa. Tsukasa looked at it for a second and the put it face up on the floor. Joker. This time it was the black Joker. Ikuto shuddered. "Amu." Ikuto said. Referring to the card of course. Joker. Amu was the Joker of the Guardians. There could be no mistake. "But why the dark one? Why did I pick the black Joker, not the colorful one?"

Tsukasa looked down at the card. "I'm...not sure. If I knew what was going on up there..." He looked at Ikuto expectedly. Ikuto sighed. That guy was a handful. Then he went on to explain all that he'd hear. Tsukasa grimaced. "I think I got my answer to the other reading. But what was this one about?" He wondered aloud when Ikuto was finished.

**Me: Finally done!**

**Rima: Took you long enough.**

**Me: Oh and guys note-they are back in school again. If you want me to dedicate a chapter to middle school-which I may do anyway-please say so in a review (If I get any-only one lonely review from Aimz-chan last time, who I thank for taking the time to review) And they still go to the Royal Garden because...Middle school is next door and almost all the old Guardians graduated? I suppose that works...**

**Kukai: Anyone in the mood to die?**

**Me: Oh and what do you guys think of Kukai in the disclaimers? Just curious...*whistles***

**Ikuto: I just got out of the hospital. Should I be worried that Kukai is coming for me.**

**Me: *sarcastic* Of course not.**

**Ikuto: Nya.**

**Me: If anyone can guess why Ikuto said nya, they get free cookies-err virtual cookies? Or would rice work? *babbles***

***mysterious voice*: You can ignore Meyumi-chan when she gets like this...**

******Rima: Well, now that she finally finished, Meyumi-chan would appreciate some reviews. Half of this was done in the early morning so sorry if it isn't good.**  



	9. Gone

**Me: Sorry for not being on here in a month. I had some family business to clear up for the first week or two and then I was immersed in Science Symposium. Now that I'm /almost/ done with my tri-fold, I'm doing fine. But I'm working alone so unlike everyone else in my class I have to do ALL the work. Ah well. Can't be helped.**

**Rima: She's just making excuses.**

**Amu: She regrets not updating here.**

**Me: I suppose...and thanks to Mysterious Angel Girl for being my lone reviewer...again...*wink***

***screams heard from unseen room***

**Kukai: *comes out of unseen room***

** Me: Umm...do I want to know?**

** Kukai: The guy's in there.**

**Me: Who's in there, exactly?**

**Tadase: *limps out of room* He's in there?**

**Me: Ikuto?**

**Ikuto: *walks out of room on crutches* He's in there.**

**Me: So if Ikuto's here...who's in there?**

**All: ...**

**Rima: Well, since she's gone, I'll do the disclaimer. **

**Kukai: No I will!**

**Rima: Meyumi-chan does not own Peach Pit. Therefore, she doesn't own Shugo Chara.**

**Kukai: *glares at Rima***

**Rima: *sips tea***

Gone

_Last Chapter..._

_Amu nodded in affirmation of her friend's choice. It made sense. It was logical. It fulfilled their duties as members of the Guardians of Seiyo Elementary. But... "Okay. I'll drop you guys off...and then double back for the X eggs?"_

_Rima nodded. "It's the best we can do."_

_And so they left. Rima and Yaya flowed behind Amu, being dragged along by a thread-rather Rima's rope. All went well and Amu went back and purified the X eggs. But soon they returned to that bench-to find out what Easter was doing after them. They discussed the previous battle. And not once was the cross dresser brought up in their conversation._

_A cell phone ring disrupted their avid conversation. A second of searching proved it to be Yaya's. She picked it up. Frowning, she screamed "Why? Why! WHY?"_

_Rima and Amu exchanged a glance. Rima looked at the time and stood up with a start. 6:20. "Amu, I've got to go. I've got ten minutes to get home." Yaya also needed to go. Amu sighed as she watched her friends leave, before heading home herself._

With the boys...

Tadase, Nagihiko, and Kukai had just been sitting there, chatting amongst themselves uneasily. Eventually, they all made their desperate excuses and headed home.

Nagihiko didn't want Amu to be angry with him. He just thought it was past time she knew. And he hoped she would understand. He didn't want to hurt her. Her especially. She was the best friend he had had in his whole life and he didn't want to lose it for a stupid secret.

With Amu...

Amu walked home alone after a time- her house followed a different street than the others'. Her charas made idle chatter as they walked the lonesome street. Finally her house came into sight.

It was just as it always was-and by the looks of it her parents were home. She pushed the door open. For some reason it was unlocked. Probably Ami. Amu called out 'Tadaima (I'm home)'.

She heard her voice echo around the walls of the house. She strained her ears for a response. None. Maybe they went out for a walk somewhere? She grumbled annoyed. She decided that she might as well take one as well.

About an hour later..

The silence was peaceful. Ran and Su had decided to play with Temari and Rhythm with Nagihiko. She'd go back for them later...and Miki and Dia didn't talk as much. She then came into sight of her house.

The sight made Amu hiss. There was a long, black car by the curb. She ran towards her comely little house. That car... Suddenly, it backed up into the road and pulled away. Amu turned in time to catch the sticker in the back window. Easter...

Amu tried to follow the car but a few minutes later it had outran her. Of course, Ran wasn't here to character change with her. The rollerblades Miki drew for her attracted a lot of stares and in the end the not sporty girl tripped over her own two feet. She didn't catch it. Not even the license plate number.

It didn't matter. She knew where it was going. And there was nothing-absolutely nothing she could do. She walked wearily over to a nearby pole and leaned on it. She pulled out her cell phone. After a second, she punched in a number.

With Utau...

Utau was sitting down in the dance studio in the middle of a break. She was sweating and tired, but she had started to learn the moves of a new dance for her next concert. Randomly, her cell phone started to ring. That ringtone meant it was one of the Guardians-well, one of the Guardians other than Tadase. Groaning she picked up the phone. If they were calling her it was probably X-egg related and they wanted her help.

"Hello?" Utau boredly poke into the speaker. She had three minutes left to her break, so she had a little time to talk.

"Utau?" Amu's voice came from the other line. Utau sat up with a start. Why did Amu need to call her?

"Who else. What's up?" Utau replied.

"Do you have time to talk with me? Like meet me at the park? It's really important." Amu's voice sounded strained, tired. Utau winced.

"I don't know. I can try. I'll be there in the next fifteen minutes, okay?" Utau felt like she needed to help Amu. After all, Amu had saved her enough.

"Thank you, Utau" Amu's voice was quiet. "I'll see you then. Meet me by the fountain."

"Okay." The call ended. Something in Amu's tone worried Utau. She was going to be there for her friend, no matter what the trouble.

With Amu...

After the call ended, Amu walked into the cheerful, cozy abode that was her home. She raised her voice and called "Mom! Dad! Ami!" The house was dead silent, except for the echo of her screams. After seeing that car, Amu feared the worst for them.

Easter was not one to be trifled with-they had all established that when the Guardians had fought Easter. But wasn't Easter defeated, and Gozen reformed? Weren't they not hurting people for the search for the Embryo?

Amu looked in the kitchen for a note. No. The living room? No. Ami's room? No. Her parents' room? No. Her room? No. The house was simply empty and the reason why not explicitly explained. But she had wits enough to guess. Amu looked at her watch. It was almost time to meet Utau in the park. She locked the front door behind her and started walking that way, lost in her thoughts.

At the park...

In fact, she had been so lost in her thoughts that she almost missed the park entrance. Utau was waiting by the fountain, drawing designs on the stonework and tapping her foot impatiently. Amu cleared her throat to announce her presence.

Utau looked up at the pinkette, wondering not for the first time if the color was natural. Then she took note of her expression. Wariness, wonder, disbelief, fear and anger. Quite a mix of emotions there. But most prominent of all was the sadness, which was so glaringly obvious in her voice. "Utau..." Amu called out to her. Utau walked up and gave her a hug. Amu looked like she dearly needed one. That being done, Utau needed to know why her friend needed her so dearly now.

"They're gone." Amu started. Her voice hitched and she looked down at her hands. "My parents, Ami, they are gone."

Utau looked at her in shock. "What do you mean they're gone?"

Amu gripped her skirt tightly. "There was an Easter car by my driveway, my own family's car in the driveway, and the car pulled away. The house was empty. I called Ami's kindergarten. She had left as usual with my parents about an hour before the first time I checked. Plenty of time to get home."

Utau tried to grasp at her meaning. "But didn't we defeat Easter when we took down the Death Rebel plan that night?"

Amu flinched at the mention of that night. "We took down the evil side of it-or so we thought anyway. But it's too coincidental."

Utau nodded. "Then, why don't we pay Hikaru a visit and ask what is up with Easter. He runs it, you know."

Amu looked up and her grip slackened. "Not a bad idea."

A few minutes later in front of Hikaru and Kazoumi's house...

Amu looked nervously at the mansion. Utau sighed, exasperated. She pulled up the brass knocker and let it fall with a loud crash. Both girls winced as they heard the echo of the knocker. It reverberated in their eardrums when they couldn't get their hands up fast enough.

The door opened. Hikaru was there. He stiffly said "Amu-san. Utau-san. Please come in if you are so inclined."

Both winced at his extra respectful tone. Before they could say anything, a sunny yellow circle with a black smile-just like Mr. Happy-appeared in Hikaru's hair. Both girls stopped in their tracks. "Come on in! Let's have a blast!"

A second later the character change wore off. Hikaru was flushed and both girls were grinning. "So your egg finally hatched, Hikaru-kun!" Amu said excitedly, momentarily distracted from the teensy weensy fact her parents were gone.

Hikaru nodded. "Urizu, come on out."

A small chara with tousled brownish hair, wearing a double soda hat, a bright yellow shirt with a smile on it, a pair of brown shorts and sneakers floated out from behind Hikaru. He had smiles all over him-in his hair, all over his shirt and shorts and even on each side of his hat. "Hiya! I'm Urizu! I'm Hikaru's wish to just lay back and have some fun!"

Miki, Su, Iru, and Eru turned out.

"Hello, I'm Miki. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Su-desu. I'll make some cookies to celebrate our meeting-desu!"

"Yo!"

"Hello. I am Eru, the Angel of Love!"

The charas started chatting amongst themselves. The chara bearers just smiled and looked back to the task at hand. Kazoumi was looking at them, bemused and annoyed. As an adult, he couldn't see the charas, but he knew they existed due to his idiots of a science team and Hikaru.

Kazoumi broke the awkward silence. "So, what brings you two here today? I know that I'm not on the best terms with you, Utau. Or you, Hinamori Amu. Although you do seem to be friendly with Hikaru. He could use a little." He sounded like the grandparent he was.

But Amu remembered the thing they had truly come for. She stared at the floor, her eyes boring holes into it. Utau looked at her and gestured away, towards a small coffee table. "Maybe we'd better sit down."

Kazoumi nodded and the four of them went to sit by the coffee table. Kazoumi started to repeat himself. "So, what brings-"

Amu shushed him. "Listen." She said. There was a tremor in her voice. The four stayed silent for a moment as they listened. A car. Pretty unremarkable, huh? Amu lifted up the window shade. It wasn't any old car-it was a black limo. It had Easter written all over it. Figuratively, of course. It also had a sticker in the back window with the Easter label on it. "There is no mistake."

Hikaru nodded at her and walked outside with Kazoumi. Several men in black suits came out to talk with them. Then suddenly one made a grab for Hikaru, another holding Kazoumi back. Amu and Utau were outside in a flash. Yet another Easter employee got out of the limo, holding several X-eggs. About two dozen more floating in the vicinity of the new person. Amu opened her phone and called Kukai. "We could use a little backup at Hoshina's house"

"Got it."

A few minutes later, Kukai was in character change, skateboarding through air. Once he saw Amu and Utau in character transformations (Lunatic Charm and Amulet Clover) around Hikaru in character change and Kazoumi he decided it was time to join them. They were surrounded by X-eggs.

A bit of bright light and some annoying theme music later, Kukai was in his own character transformation, Sky Jack. Time to give them all a chance. "Golden Victory Shoot!" He called his attack.

The X eggs parted, as not to be hit by the flaming ball. A second later the ball stopped and Amu was juggling it on her knees. She kneed it into the air and sent it flying. "Rosy Victory Shoot!"

Kukai grinned. "So you remember more than plagiarized quotes." Amu blushed at the reference to Graduation. "Give and Go!"

"We needed to leave Yaya with a smile on her face." Amu told him. The ball was bouncing around when Amu took it. It had bounced nearby. She just kicked it high into the air using a cheerleader kick. She _was _Amulet Heart after all. It had only made sense to switch when Kukai took up a sports-loving character transformation.

Everyone had been listening to the exchange between Kukai and Amu. No one had noticed that the bouncing had cornered the ball. Except the speakers, who bounced it on purpose. And Utau, once Amu signaled her. Utau switched to Seraphic Charm and called out "Angel Cradle". They all watched as the X eggs were slowly purified and flew away.

A piece of paper was dropped by Hikaru. Amu picked it up. She'd give it to him later-it was too dangerous now to think of it. Easter was still here.

But slowly and surely they left, with a backwards glance that made Amu feel uneasy. Kukai also left, She turned to Utau. "May I stay over at your house tonight? After...that I don't think I can really go home."

"Sure. And I get it."

"You do?"

"Remember? The Tsukiyomis were caged, like butterflies as my original song went."

"At one point you got out of there, and after I hid your brother I really didn't see it the way everyone else did."

"Oh. WAIT! YOU HID IKUTO!"

"For a little..." Amu backed up a bit at her friend's expression.

"He had to be hidden for a while-he was sick..." Amu tried to explain herself. To her surprise, Utau nodded and started smiling again after a second.

"So thats what you were hiding. What happened to my brother."

"Yeah...I guess..."

"Well, it's all over now. Let's look forward."

"A little too bleak for me, thank you very much." Amu reminisced the previous day. It was normal-she came home to her parents, went and did her homework, came down for dinner, had a bath, and went to bed. Normal. How she wished for normal at this second.

Utau nodded in understanding. "Well, let's go to your house, so you can get a change of clothes. Mine won't fit you. Then over to my home?"

"Whatever works for you. Thanks, Utau."

"No problem." Both girls started walking in the direction of Amu's house.

_At Amu's House..._

The door creaked a bit, before allowing the two girlsentrance. It was spooky in a way. The house was deathly silent and totally empty. Amu went to her room. She returned a few minutes later dressed in grey and white striped knee socks, a darker grey pair of shorts that reached mid-thigh, and a black t-shirt with a grey skull bones with crossbones design in the middle. On the bottom, it read in white "The fate of the one who calls me an idiot.".

An ominous message to be sure. Utau shook her head, as if to clear it, not noticing Amu's exit. She had left a bundle of clothes in the kitchen and returned upstairs. She was thinking. What interest did Easter-or this new Easter who was not under control of Hikaru and Kazoumi-take in Amu?

Suddenly it was obvious to her, as obvious as a large drop of black paint on a white piece of paper. Her four charas-Ran, Miki, Su, and Dia. Many clung to the untrue statement that the more charas the person has the stronger they are.

In some ways they were right. Only a strong heart's egg-or a hearts egg made strong by wish or wishes could give shugo charas to their owner. It represents how many strong dreams a person has. But for one it shows indecisiveness. She was not a resolute sort, presuming they were all hers. It was true enough, anyway.

Utau looked at her watch, disrupting her ponderings. They ought to get moving. She walked upstairs to find Amu. Amu was standing at the mouth to her sister's room. On the bed was a chara egg.

_With Tsukasa and Ikuto..._

The black Joker sat in the middle of the floor all day. No matter how many times they picked cards, they always picked the black Joker. They hadn't heard much since that day. At one point someone rolled in a few video screens.

As it turned out, Easter had bugged the entire damn city. How rude. But it did show Amu and Utau with Hikaru and..._Kazoumi._ Shaking the usual hatred for his stepfather off, Ikuto and Tsukasa watched the girls defend them, Kukai show up, and overheard Amu's conversation.

Black Joker, huh? It ought to be blacker than black if what he had guessed was true._  
_

**Me: And that's where I'll end it.**

**Ami: There?**

**Me: Yeah. Don't complain, you have a chara. Besides, this one was me trying to start up something like 2 miniplots at least. Sorry if it's not great.**

**Utau: It's fine, Meyumi-chan. **

**Me: I'm not a big fan of the name anymore, but it'll make sense in the end. At this point it doesn't work. And sorry guys, I promise to update sooner next time.**

**Rima: Please read and review.**

**Nagihiko: Meyumi-chan wants to hear what you have to say! :D  
**


	10. Muddled Monday

**Me: So, I will be updating more often for right now. The school year's winding down and it's before my summer summons. And yet again Firefox fails me. I lost about 500 words trying to save. :(  
**

**Kukai: *walks in* Hello, Meyumi-chan!**

**Me: Playing nice won't get you anywhere, Kukai.**

**Kukai: But I came but to say thanks to Mysterious Angel Girl and Taeniaea. **

**Chiyoko: *walks in* Meyumi-chaaaaaan!**

**Me: Chiyoko! Check Episode 66 if you don't remember her.**

**Chiyoko: My turn for the disclaimer?**

**Kukai: .**

**Me: Yup!**

**Kukai: .**

**Chiyoko: Meyumi-chan doesn't own Shugo chara!**

**Kukai: *gets dark aura***

**Me: Kukai, I told you. Playing nice won't get you anywhere. Go find Utau or something.**

Muddled Monday

_Last Chapter..._

_Black Joker, huh? It ought to be blacker than black if what he had guessed was true._

_With Komichu..._

All the pieces were in place. The set up had been brilliant. Well, mostly spotless. Komichu touched the empty key at his belt. Soon it would be in its former glory. Soon he would unlock the Embryo. Soon, he thought. Soon. So tantalizing were the pieces so close yet just out of his grasp.

No, Komichu had not gone crazy. The little guy was just a _tad_ impatient. It had been a good four days since the pieces appeared to him.

Four days since the pieces came in their glorious cardboard box of sharpie and bubble wrap. _Oh, that bubble wrap...how wonderful..I love bubble wrap!_ He shook his head Quiet, subconscious. I need to work. I'm not a child.

Three since the kidnapping of the fortune teller. Fool he had been who had such a remote sanctuary. A small little planetarium, ivy growth nearly covering the 'special resource wing' sign. So easy to go in without anyone knowing...

Two since the attempt on the Guardian to get the pieces he wanted. Nothing more. Just a little itty bitty stone. A stone who had gone unnoticed for half a week. A stone none but him, catboy, and astrologist knew how to use. The same he had locked up.

And one day. One day since they had taken the parents. A whole day. The troublesome girl who held the Humpty Lock would not stay in their way long after that; Komichu was quite sure she could be convinced. She had known what they did to children-she was there when the old Easter fought the Guardians. Easter was superior in every way. How should a small group of meddlesome kids defeat such? The god damn boss was a kid. Scarcely into elementary school.

Not only that, but Komichu had heard he had never been to a school in his life. So, in retrospect, it was no wonder that the old Easter had lost.

No wonder at all...

Komichu's mind turned to other things, all having to do with the one intricate plan fabricated to keep the Guardians where Easter wanted them. To watch their every move. To create strife where there was once friendship. That was all they had-friendship. Little real power.

They had bugged the place, of course. The little dense kiddies would never guess that Easter had put sound and visual devices in every crevice. Every plan of theirs foiled. Every secret ferreted out. And nowhere to turn to blame but within.

Conflict within, Conflict without. Which burnest thy fires bright. See thou shall. Un'er the moon and un'er the stars. Light obscure with clouds of Kami. A canopy of song grown old and worn and torn with mold. Bewitched were their very souls. And what shall they doest, with their hearts alone, abroad. In the sea of lonesome despair. **(Err...)**

Keeping that catboy under control proved to be its own problem. He had already broken his chain loose once. But he was alone at the time. The other effect of the kidnapping of Tsukasa was that he kept Ikuto under control. Komichu had assumed they knew each other from the way Ikuto reacted to seeing him there. Now that he thought of it, they had a similar look.

He shook his head again. That wasn't the point. He had done even more to ensure the demise of the Guardians of Seiyo Elementary. Sure, there were other chapters, but this one had been particularly against them. Others had been fighting Easter without knowing who they were fighting, only what. Others still knew not that there was anyone shifting the feelings of the hearts eggs in town. Some thought it was merely depressed kids and braced for that. Moreover, there were some still delightfully and deliciously oblivious.

That one note should do the trick. The rift it would create between the Lock and the outsider. They had their own conflict, but Easter had no clue as to what it was as of yet. Soon they would find out, of course. They would treat the Guardians as proper enemies. Then they would finish them with the sheer power of Easter's superiority.

The Guardians ought to be flattered that Komichu alone thought this highly of them, to put such effort into their demise. A thorn stuck in the skin is painless enough, but many tend to hurt. The Guardians were no more than common thorns to be brought out and discarded.

The only question he had to think of right at that moment was where to put the parents. He had not honestly thought that that plan would be successful. He did not know the Guardians were even so weak as not to be able to save them. And that girl was supposed to be the powerful one. If she was indeed that weak, the others should not be a problem.

The Easter he worked for was stronger and better than ever. Of course, it had proper management. No children to run the company astray and amuck. Komichu belonged to the faction that had broken away from Easter upon the realization that some _child _was supposed to be their better. They had just left, most of the company.

Those who tended to like kids stayed with the Ichinomiras. That meant the cruel sadists who would do anything-_absolutely anything _to get their hands on the Embryo was with them. Upon the split, old Easter loyalists took the name Easter Sunday while new Easter supporters sneered and simply decided to call themselves Easter Monday. The general public was absolutely clueless.

Oh well, he thought. It would be time to deal with the other Hinamoris. Easter could mess with just about anyone. Why not a up and coming patissier and his model wife? Easter doesn't do anything by halves. If they were going to mess with someone, they would mess with them-thoroughly.

Though the Hinamoris did not seem to be normal...

_Flashback  
_

_Komichu saw to it that the Hinamoris were thrown in the same room as the catboy and the atronomer. He turned around and stalked down the hallway with an evil smirk on his face. Then he heard the wailing. He walked back to the room out of curiosity. The father was sitting on the ground wailing his eyes out. No one seemed to care, so it seemed like it was normal._

_He could hear it from his office. At that point he slinked back down the hallway, dragged Mr. Hinamori out by his ear, and put him in a _soundproof_ holding room for the present. He went back to the desk to resume his work. It had been a long day._

_End Flashback_

It had sure been one long day,

_With Tsumugu..._

WAAAAAAH! AMU-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU? (***sweatdrop***)

_With Midori, Ami, Tsukasa, and Ikuto..._

Ami clung to her mother. "Mama, where are we?"

"Ami-chan, let's go to sleep."

"But I wanna know where we are!"

"In the morning, Ami, dear,"

After a while of the adults staring at the black Joker which remained on the floor_, _Midori looked up. Ami had been sleeping quietly on her shoulder for a few hours. She moved the figure of the five year old to her lap and asked the very same question that Ami had before she left in her peaceful slumber. "Where are we?"

Ikuto looked up. "Easter."

Midori looked confused. "Easter? You mean the famous music company?"

"The very same. But it's not all music."

"Oh?"

Ikuto didn't respond. Neither did Tsukasa. Neither knew what to say. Especially since the Guardians didn't exactly advertise the dark side of the job to their parents. With the whole 'charas are here but you just can't see them' and 'Oh, yeah. Mom? I'm going to go fight a world renowned company because they kidnapped my friend, and no you don't have to worry about me' lines it was just a tad unreasonable to ask of them. After all, they had done much good-and not just for him personally.

The silence stretched. "What is that card?" Midori asked.

This time Tsukasa responded. "The Black Joker."

"But what does it mean? Does it have any significance?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's randomly sitting on the floor and everyone's staring at it."

Tsukasa leaned back against the wall. Ikuto blurted "Amu."

"What about my Amu-chan?"

"The Joker. Amu. She's the Joker of the Guardians. So the card is her." Tsukasa continued.

"Joker? But...okay. Then why the black?" Midori thirstily asked questions and soaked up information like a sponge. But now she was up to where the rest of them were. And they had no clues to work off of.

"We're...not sure."

One of the screens flickered on. Video. Interesting.

On the screen was Amu, walking in the woods. She wasn't far from Seiyo Elementary-it was in the background behind her. She had a piece of paper in hand, that she was obviously reading. She froze. But Ikuto thought he could make out the stiffness to her steps and her stop. He could only wonder what it meant. The cameras...surely she didn't know. It would explain the skittishness though. On screen she crumpled up the paper. She threw it at a tree. Her charas came up to her. "Amu-chan, what's wrong? (~Desu)"

Amu stopped and leaned on a tree. "I can't believe she did that. I thought I could trust Utau."

"Amu-chan..." Her charas pressed on concernedly.

"Is it all a joke to her? I mean, she was the first one I went to. She doesn't take me seriously at all! I mean, she's one of my best friends. She should be there for me when stuff happens. That's what friends do. Kami-sama, if I can't trust her then who can I trust?"

A few others flickered on. Suddenly the panel was shining. The three of them stared at the screen where Amu was. None of them spoke a word. Midori was paling. Ami was still snoring lightly in that childish manner. Tsukasa and Ikuto both looked at the card face up on the floor between them. They looked up and uneasily made eye contact. So that's what was up. The joker and the Joker both were obviously and inobtrusively connected. It seemed as if Tsukasa's fortune telling was right-again-to their utmost dismay.

Soon they noticed Utau on another screen. She looked confused and angry. She was heard saying "What was Amu thinking? What happened to her? I thought we were friends-then why did she accuse me like that for no rhyme or reason!"

"Utau-chan" Her charas cooed from beside her. She sat down on a bench. Soon she heard footsteps.

"OYYY! IDOL-SAN!" Kukai was running up to her, panting. When he reached her, he made a show of putting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily.

"What do you want, kid. Is it about Amu?" Utau inquired softly.

"Amu?" Kukai looked confused.

"Yes, Amu. I suppose from your reaction she hasn't told you yet."

"What hasn't she told me?"

"I-"

Amu's screens started flashing, and they tuned out the rest of Kukai and Utau's conversation for now to pay attention to the flashing lights of the technology.

_With Tsumugu..._

WAAAAAAH! AMI-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU?

_Back with the **normal** people..._

Amu herself was slumping down on the tree. Suddenly, the ground disappeared from beneath her feet. Her charas tried to follow her fall, but failed as a metal covering came onto place on top of where she fallen, blocking their entrance. Some fake grass moved to cover it.

Instantly, the charas began to freak out. "Amu-chan!"

Miki was a tad more collected than her sisters. She motioned to them to stop their useless waste of energy. She then floated over to the tree and put her finger to her chin.

Taking out her drawing notepad, she drew a rough sketch of the tree and where Amu had been standing. After scrutinizing the picture, she floated over to the tree and ran her fingers along the bark. She motioned her sisters to follow her.

About a half hour later they had given up hope. Amu's voice didn't come clear too loudly. But it was there, authoritative, as she spelled out a plan to her charas.

"Ran, go find Rima, Yaya, and/or Tadase. Tell them that I need help only, and have them come here." Ran nodded. "Be fast, Ran."

"Hai, Amu-chan!" Ran said

"Now, Miki. I want you to go to Utau-and Kukai because he's probably with her. Ask them for help, and stage it if need be." Miki nodded "Be creative with your fight, Miki."

"Hai, Amu-chan" Miki replied.

"Su...stay here."

"Why-desu?"

"Well, I don't want you getting lost. Plus, Ran and Miki are talking to everyone we need to talk to. Three, I want you to mark where I am. If someone comes, I'd like them to be able to find me. And with a chara that Easter can't see, they won't know I'm here."

"Hai, Amu-chan ~Desu"

The charas floated off to do their various jobs. Amu sighed. It looked as if she might be there awhile. She curled up in a nook near where she had originally fallen and promptly fell asleep.

Luckily for her, that tunnel into which she had fallen was not equipped with a camera and the victims of Easter could only see what happened at the surface.

Tsukasa's forehead creased and his eyes took on the glazed disposition of thought.

"-kasa"

"-ukasa!"

"FOR THE SAKE OF CATNIP, TSUKASA CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Ikuto practically screamed in Tsukasa's ear.

Tsukasa ignored it. Well, he said nothing. But he was thinking about that tree. _Could it be? Had she stumbled upon that ancient place?_

"Penny for your thoughts?" Midori said softly. Both men looked at her. She had barely spoken since she questioned them. "You seem to have many."

Tsukasa turned as to be situated towards her. "I think I know the place Amu fell into."

"One of your tunnels?" Ikuto inquired.

"Yes, I suppose it is. It isn't finished though, and that's the problem. I refused to finish that one."

"Refused to finish it?"

"Yes." Tsukasa would say no more. "But why is another matter for another time." He picked another deck of face cards out of his pocket and put them face down on the floor. He gestured at Midori to pick one of them up.

She did and turned it over. It was blank.

**Me: I feel like ending it here.**

**Nagihiko: What do you mean, feel like ending it here?**

**Me: I dunno.**

**Rima: It's probably because she promised her friends it would be up yesterday and it's late today.**

**Me: I need to go to sleep. Gah. And...**

**Tsumugu: WAAH! *cries***

**All: Okay then...*sweatdrop***

**Me: Moving right along...O_o  
**

**Nagihiko: And she wanted a cliffie.**

**Me: Yup! Now, Read and Review to find out what the blank card means.**


	11. Drawing A Blank

**Me: Hey! I'm back! Firstly, Thank you, Taeniaea and Mysterious Angel Girl. Secondly, I'm ALMOST out of my high-stress window. ALMOST I said. Just gotta make it through next week. I'm working on this in spare seconds and at school so please don't be mad.  
**

**Amu: I'm too messed up in this story.**

**Me: Yeah, I know.**

**Amu: And...?**

**Me: I'm working on it.**

**Kukai: It just shows how incompetent you are as a writer.**

**Me: In-in-incompetent! *goes to emo corner***

***is pushed out of emo corner by Amu*  
**

**Amu: No emo corner for you! Just believe in yourself!**

**Me: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . NOT HELPING AMU! *chases Amu out*  
**

**Ikuto: If I do the disclaimer will you leave me alone?**

**Me: Yes!**

**Kukai: No! I wanna do the disclaimer! I wanna! I wanna! *cries*  
**

**Me: o_O Okay then...Ikuto?  
**

**Ikuto: Fine. Meyumi-chan doesn't own anything Shugo Chara.**

**Kukai: NUUUUUU!  
**

Drawing a Blank

_Last Chatper..._

_"Yes." Tsukasa would say no more. "But why is another matter for another time." He picked another deck of face cards out of his pocket and put them face down on the floor. He gestured at Midori to pick one of them up._

_She did and turned it over. It was blank._

_With Midori, Ikuto, and Tsukasa..._

"A blank card?" Midori turned to Tsukasa. "Why would you have a blank card in your deck?"

Tsukasa took the card from her hand and put it on the ground, where the Joker still was. "It symbolizes something as well. Care to guess?"

Ikuto scrutinized Tsukasa for a second. "Someone other than the Guardians is involved."

"Yes." Came the curt response. "The question is who. But whoever it is is still white-there are black cards in the deck as well. I do need a good, full deck for an optimal reading."

"Utau. It's Utau-chan." Ikuto realized. "She was on that screen, and Amu was talking about her. But what happened, do you think?"

"We don't know. We only know what they show us." Tsukasa explained carefully.

Ikuto reminisced "Those two had the bitterest of fights. And her real name is Tsukiyomi Utau, not Hoshina Utau by the way. That's our step-father's surname."

"WHAT?" Midori screamed. Then she calmed herself, and metally prepared herself for the answer to her question. "I mean, I knew Amu knew Utau-chan for some reason-she had come over to our house once. But they looked like good friends. What do you mean by fights?"

Ikuto sighed. "They're friends _now._ They fought before. That was back when..." He trailed off, not sure whether to continue. Not sure how much she knew or Amu meant her to know. Sighing, he turned silent.

"Back when what?" Came the inevitable response.

"Err...maybe Amu should be the one to tell you, if she intends to do so." Tsukasa intervened.

"She's been keeping more secrets then." Midori stopped, her breathing hitched with tears. "I'm sure she had her reasons but...I wish she would have trusted me with the information and I didn't have to find out like this."

"I know you might feel bad but..." Tsukasa trailed off.

"But, Amu really couldn't tell you." Ikuto finished.

"And what couldn't she tell me?" Midori said, putting attitude into her voice. She sounded like an adolescent. "At the very least, can you tell me why you were hiding in our house and Amu knew about it?"

"That would explain a bit..." Tsukasa started again, looking at Ikuto.

"Don't wanna." Ikuto lazed back, into a catnap.

When he woke up, he was in for a surprise. Tsukasa had pulled a piece of catnip from his pocket. Midori looked on curiously, not sure what the catnip was for. Tsukasa said to watch, but she had absolutely no idea what she was watching.

A few seconds later, when Ikuto got up, she got her answer.

He had woken up, taken a quick stretch and sniffed. Soon he had cat ears on his head and was bounding towards Tsukasa.

_Cat ears? EHHHH?_ Was what her trail of thought resembled at that point in time.

"Well, I was hiding from these people here at Easter. They never looked at Amu's-your house~nya" Ikuto shook his head, and the cat ears disappeared. _Nya? _"I went there first because I was on the run and it started snowing. Yoru took me there."

"Who's Yoru?" Asked Midori suspiciously.

"Uhh..." Neither man seemed to have a response to that.

"I want an answer." Midori said in a cool, commanding voice. She was going to find out. But there was one thing for certain. She could not find out about the shugo charas. Amu would hate them for that. She had to be the one to tell her mom. But...

"A mutual friend." Ikuto half-lied.

"A mutual friend? Then why hasn't Amu told me about this Yoru?" Midori asked indignantly.

Tsukasa raised his eyebrows at Ikuto, who shifted, uncomfortable. He placed his head on the stone. Soon he was fast asleep.

"Anyway, how is _the_ Hoshina Utau involved with this?" Midori asked suddenly.

"Utau-chan just happens to have a last name that isn't Hoshina. She uses her step dad's surname as a stage name. But, she was born Tsukiyomi Utau. Ikuto's little sister." Tsukasa explained, with a mindful eye that Ikuto was sleeping. "Please don't tell him that I told you though. It is a sensitive topic."

"Oh." That subject was effectively closed off.

"But Ikuto is right. They had bad fights. They had it out for each other. Utau was anyway. She had something irreplaceable of Amu's, and therefore Amu consented to fight her, or so I have heard was the end result."

"What is this irreplaceable thing of Amu-chan's?"

Tsukasa seemed to go distant for a second. "Do you know what a heart's egg is?"

"I've heard Amu mention it once or twice, but it sounded like she wasn't about to tell me. Like it was an accident she said it or some such. Why?"

Tsukasa pulled out a picture book. "Here. This will explain some." He said, handing the worn book to Amu's mother.

"Kokoro no Tamago." She read. (The heart's egg.)

"Every child has an egg within their soul. The heart's egg can not be seen with one's eyes. But as the child grows up the egg vanishes."Midori read aloud, flipping pages. Soon she reached the ripped page.

"And so what, pray tell, does this mean, Tsukasa-san?" Midori asked. "And how does this relate to Amu, this Yoru person, and our current situation?"

"What relates to the current situation?" Said Ikuto, evidently waking up from his catnap.

"Ah, Ikuto. You're awake! Midori was just looking at the book." Tsukasa smiled in that irritating way.

Ikuto groaned. "Do you ever get tired of that picture book? I mean, you wrote it before I was even born." He turned to look at the screens, bored.

Midori looked shocked. "That old?" Tsukasa decided it was best not to say anything. He took out his cards again and started shuffling.

On one particular screen, there was something of interest. A speeding ball of _something_ and a waiting unknowing target.

_With Ran and Miki..._

After Amu fell into the tunnel, and told them what she needed them to do Ran and Miki left. Once they got to the path in the woods nearby, they went off. Ran was running-she had no clue where the other Guardians were.

She ran at top speed down the stone paved path. Amu was waiting. The time for cheering was done.

She reached the Royal Garden to find it empty. But being the cheerful person she was, she didn't despair. Deciding to look for Tadase first, she went for the Planetarium. He might be there, or in his uncle's empty office. Where was the guy?

She started yelling when she saw that the planetarium was empty. Unable to stay unhappy for long, she decided to go for Rima because she would either be at her house or with Yaya. She started to fly off the school grounds in the direction of Rima's house.

Miki was running-but not quite at Ran's speed. She guessed Kukai would be in the middle school-by the sports fields?

On a hunch, she went to the soccer field, only to find that the practice was over. Basketball as well. There was no sign of Daichi anywhere.

She was huffing and puffing as she gave up on finding Kukai and went to look for Utau.

_With Su..._

Su sat around a while making friends with Mister Field Mouse and Miss Fawn and making herself comfortable. She played hide and seek with her new friends.

She had just finished cleaning the kitchen of Mister Squirrel's treetop home, when she started to feel tired. The exhaustion had started to set in.

Soon she had decided that putting her head down for a second would be a fine idea. She didn't know that second would turn into a few hours.

_With Amu..._

After a few hours of restless sleep, the pinkette woke up.

She remembered that her charas had headed off and fell back with a sigh.

The entrance she had 'used' was sealed and didn't look forgiving, not that she could even get up to where it was, high up in the top of the cave, without the help of her charas who were as stuck outside as she was inside.

She reached into her pockets for the two eggs sitting there.

One was yellow covered with a black plaid outline and had a stripe of yellow diamonds through the middle. It was Dia's egg. She had gone back in to it after the final battle with Utau.

The other was the chara egg she had found in her sister's room. She had taken it with her, hoping it would provide a clue. It was pink with a turquoise and purple outline of a butterfly.

She looked at them for a few minutes, then dropped her hand abruptly, placing the two gently into her pocket. While she was there, she ought to go look for another exit.

She heard a light pitter patter of rain, and decided against it after the first crack of thunder rocked the grove. She clutched the nearest thing to her-a piece of rotting wood-and held onto it for dear life.

_With Utau..._

_"..._and so that's what happened with Amu." Utau finished talking, sounding close to tears.

"Ouch, that's harsh." Kukai muttered, running his hands through her hair. **(Ugh. I'm not a huge fan of Kutau but here's a small moment for a friend who is.)**

Utau glared at him and pulled away_, _huffing.

Kukai laughed. "Ramen?"

"You're on!"

_With Tsumugu..._

The men came in again. The black suited-glasses wearing men. They were dangerous to be around. Danger to him.

One of them carried a tray with some sort of food on it. Or poison. He shuddered as it was placed in front of him. The black suits left him with the tray. He was glad-he wanted nothing to do with them.

Overturning the tray where they had left it, he lay on the bed in hopes of getting a wink of sleep.

_With Midori, Tsukasa, and Ikuto..._

They had been so occupied with what they could understand of Amu's that they had totally missed Kukai and Utau's conversation. They were exactly where they were before-uninformed about why what was happening happened.

They were drawing a blank.

Well, that had it's literal aspect. For indeed it seemed to be Utau. But in fact it could be any number of people. It being the blank card, the very same that rested opposite of the Black Joker.

The cards had been informative and completely ludicrous at the very same time.

The room was quiet. Ikuto was quietly and indeed quite lightly snoring. Tsukasa was organizing cards. Midori was thinking on the book Tsukasa had shown her.

Kokoro no Tamago. My Heart's Egg. Wish. Dream.

What did she ever want in life?

She was drawing a blank.

Suddenly she understood the book and her own heart. She had gotten older and lost sight of her earlier dream. As per such, her hearts egg had disappeared.

The fact hit her like a whip. She didn't know her dream. The magazine editing was a fun job-but that was with her adult's view. What was her view of the world as an innocent and dense and ignorant child?

Think.

Think.

Think.

She kept drawing a blank.

**Me: Finally done!**

**Amu: I thought you said you would do something about it?**

**Me: Well, it didn't fit into this chapter. I do have stuff planned.**

**Utau: Hey! Where's Kukai? I wanted to thank him for cheering me up a bit.**

**Me: Emo corner. *points***

**Iru: *laughs***

**Eru: Thank you, Meyumi-chan! Please review after you read! You love it...ANGEL WINK!**

**All: *facepalm***


	12. Dream Away the Time

**Me: Hello! First, thanks to Apple-chan and Aimz for reviewing! Second is...**

**Kukai: Me getting to do the disclaimer.**

**Rima: No duh. **

**SC Cast except Rima and Kukai: Ssshh...**

**Kukai: Fine. :(**

**Me: Well, this /may/ be my last update for awhile. I go on vacation on Friday and come back Sunday (over a week, well, Friday and Sunday and part of each Saturday is solely for driving) then I have soccer camp, sleepaway camp (1 1/2 months), varsity soccer team tryouts, another week away at a sleepaway camp, and a ton of summer homework, including a bunch from a college-level AP Bio class and two years worth of advanced mathematics as well as more. Also, the 1,000 words or so of the ending that I had to redo three times because my computer refused to safe it didn't help. I'm totally and completely utterly booked. :(  
**

**Rima: She'll be writing the next bits over the summer, in her sparse spare time. But that's not an excuse.  
**

**Me: I'm going to miss you guys! And as a special treat, Tsumugu, please do the disclaimer.**

***a faint AMU-CHAN! was heard in the distance***

**Me: *sweatdrop* Uhh...Midori?**

**Midori: *shivers, crying in the emo corner* Dream...**

**Me: *sweatdrops again* Ikuto?**

**Ikuto: *napping***

**Me: IS THERE SOMEONE TO DO THE DISCLAIMER?**

**Kukai: Me?**

**Me: YUA! GET OVER HERE AND DO THE DISCLAIMER!**

**Yua: Of Course! CHIESU! Meyumi-senpai doesn't own the disclaimer!**

**Me: *sweatdrops* I don't own Shugo Chara and my name isn't Meyumi-senpai. I'm Meyumi-chan, thank you very much, Yua.  
**

Dream Away the Time

_Last Chapter..._

_Nokoro Tamago. My Heart's Egg. Wish. Dream._

_What did she ever want in life?_

_She was drawing a blank._

_Suddenly she understood the book and her own heart. She had gotten older and lost sight of her earlier dream. As per such, her hearts egg had disappeared._

_The fact hit her like a whip. She didn't know her dream. The magazine editing was a fun job-but that was with her adult's view. What was her view of the world as an innocent and dense and ignorant child?_

_Think._

_Think._

_Think._

_She kept drawing a blank._

_With Ami..._

Ami found herself deep in a dream. It was all pink and sparkly. Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, her cheeks reddened with delight, and her mouth went slightly open.

She sat down, to find it surprisingly cushiony. She flopped down to come face to face with a light pink feather. She was twirling around and making snow angels in the feathers before long.

A pale golden glow was seen in the distance, caught in the corner of her eye. She forgot about the feathers and went for the light and whatever had created it. She ran, and ran, and ran. It was slowly getting closer. Laughing, and smiling, she ran towards her heavenly goal.

Then she came face to face with it. It was the pale outline of an egg. As she put her hand out to grasp it, it vanished.

_With Tsumugu..._

He woke up to the cold empty room, as always. It was impersonal and apathetic to his grief and troubles.

Tsumugu was throwing himself at the walls of the small cubicle they called a room. He was screaming. "AMI-CHAN! AMI-CHAN! WHERE IS MY LITTLE SPARROW? WHERE IS MY AMI-CHAN? I WANT MY AMI-CHAN BACK! WAAAAAHHHH!"

No one was supposed to be able to hear him, but he was heard clearly throughout the building.

_With Tsukasa, Ikuto, Midori..._

Midori had a shocked, sad expression pasted on her face. She was running her fingers through the still sleeping Ami's hair. Then she heard a VERY familiar scream. Tsumugu. Of course. A light smile was on her face.

Then one of the black coat Easter personnel walked in. He roughly pulled Ami from her hands. Before she had a chance to turn, to scream, to protest, he was gone with her child.

_With Ami..._

Her dreams was not all unicorns and rainbows.

Suddenly, after the egg had faded, the dream world she was in started to shake. Her curly brown locks following, she fell over. As she went to get up, the world started to roll, rumble, and shake.

It darkened. The sky was almost black, a dark navy blue. There was an outline of a face with stark white glasses. It was incredibly spooky. It's cheshire-like

It faded to black, and she woke up into a blackness.

Doing the first thing that came to mind after such a black nightmare, and being five, she screamed.

_With Tsumugu..._

Tsumugu did not stop his frantic screaming as one of the Easter people opened the door to his room and walked right on in. In fact, his efforts doubled.

Tsumugu threw his loony self at the employee, who did not move or seem to care at all. Then, said Easter man took a bundle from his hand, and held it up in the grown man's face. It was pink, yellow, white, with a swirl of light brown... A little, chubby face peeked out from the bundle. In the tangible silence that followed, a little girl cocked her head. "Papa?"

Tsumugu ripped Ami from the Easter employee's hands and held his little sparrow up to the sky. "AMI-CHAN!" He yelled excitedly. He brought her down to cradle the small, fragile, five year old body in his arms.

_With Rima and Yaya..._

Rima and Yaya were deep in a conversation about Amu. Neither had seen their best friend since the shocking news had been revealed about Nagihiko that afternoon. They'd gone searching to no avail. They had checked everywhere-swept the school and the places in town Amu frequented. They had even checked the planetarium. Now they were in the woods between the school and the planetarium.

It was now evening, sunset almost finished. It was a beautiful one, not that they noticed it. It referred to the sunset, but incidentally, that was not all they had missed...

_With Nagihiko..._

Nagihiko was watching Rima and Yaya talk from the comfort and security of a nearby tree. There was a pair of blue, purple, and white headphones around his neck as explanation of how he got there. Purple hair swaying in the wind, he eavesdropped shamelessly.

He had hoped to find them with Amu. Amu. How he wanted to apologize, to make her forgive him. He really should have told her earlier, he realized at last. Only the realization came a little late.

He thought back to his own self, to find the weakness that held back the confession.

A face came to him. Amu's face. No, it was Amu's face when she was with 'Nadeshiko'. How happy she looked, out there with her best friend.

He wasn't trying to hurt her. He hadn't been, and he never would. He just wanted her to accept him for the cross dressing self. Delving deeper in the putty that made up his self, his very heart and soul, he figured it out.

He was scared. Scared of Amu's reaction. Scared of losing her as a friend. And that fear had held him back.

And now she knew the secret.

And now it was too late to patch it up.

Still, the 'eggplant' reflected, he would do his best. His very best. His best friend deserved no less from him-as she had already gotten. It was like handing a rotten apple to a person who should have gotten the perfect apple. He would not fail his friendships again; that was the lesson he had learned. Never Again.

_With Ran..._

Ran was speeding through another patch of woods. Rather than stick by the roads, she just charged straight ahead, determined to get to the planetarium. Her owner was in trouble. She _had_ to help Amu-chan. To do anything possible. Because her owner was stuck in an underground facility and this was all she could do about it. Cheer, and run to get the people who _could_ do a little more than she about the situation.

She wasn't looking around much, just zooming about and making sure she didn't run into any trees. And she didn't.

Suddenly, she hit something with an OOF! and the world went black.

_With Miki...  
_

Miki was huffing and puffing. She was nowhere near as fast as Ran. She had more stamina than Su, yes, but nothing compared to her other sister. Kukai and Utau could be all over town! She had no leads, no idea where to go. And nowhere to get clues.

After all, she was a chara. The great majority of the human population can not see charas. The only people nearby who could see them were the Guardians, Nikaidou-sensei, Yukari, the Tsukiyomis, Tsukasa, and the Easter science team.

After departing school property, she ran towards the recording studio of Sanjo Productions that she remembered going to once. Well, more like stumble-jogged than ran. She was quite tired. But she wasn't going to give up. No, for her owner's sake, she wouldn't give up.

Eventually, she made her way to the building she wanted. She climbed up a few flights of stairs. Opening the door at the top, she found Nikaidou Yuu and Sanjo Yukari. No one else. Kukai and Utau weren't there.

She wasn't noticed by either as she slumped to the ground. But those two would do-they could contact people who could help a lot easier than she could. If only they would pay attention to her. She tried to call out to them.

_With Yukari and Yuu..._

Yuu had brought flowers for Yukari earlier that day. They were a mixture of soft blues offset by off white flowers. It was a beautiful bunch. Of course, they had to be.

About a month previous, they had started dating. Sparks were flying, and Yukari even made him go to a love shout contest for her sake. She could be troublesome, but it was worth it. Always worth it...

"So-" They both snapped out of their romantic daze, as they heard the door open. Neither went to look who it was. Then came a small squeal.

Curious, Yuu went to see what the wind had brought them, closely followed by Yukari. They both saw nothing.

Another squeal was heard. It seemed to be from right in front of them. Foreheads creasing, the couple looked down. The sight shocked them. There, on the ground, was a hunched over, panting little blue _thing_. Yuu went to pick it up, and it moved. Slowly but surely. Another squealing sound came from the figure, but this time it sounded like something.

"...Help...need...help...now...find..." came the moan.

With Yukari's encouragement, Yuu went to pick up the figure. It looked curiously familiar...too familiar... The shape flipped over and sat up. Surprised eyes met pleased and tired eyes, as the figure was identified. "Miki? What are you doing here?"

"Amu...stuck...need Utau...Kukai...now...help...me...please!" She panted out before she had to stop and further catch her breath. It hadn't been very clear, but she had gotten her general message across. Now Miki could only hope that Yukari and Yuu did the right thing.

"Where?" Came the first question.

"School...in the forest...planetarium..." Miki panted. She stopped for a minute or two as the couple exchanged confused glances. Forgetting the fragrant flowers and what they had been thinking of before, they listened intently as Miki started speaking once more. "Tree...tunnel...secret enterance...fell into tunnel...Amu...stuck...help!"

Yukari excused herself and pulled out a phone, walking out of the room. Yuu continued to ask Miki.

"You mentioned Utau and Kukai. Wny do you need them?"

"Help with the tunnel. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Well, I'm afraid I can't help you with the tunnel- I know less about it than you do." Miki started to talk, but silenced with a gesture of Yuu's. "But I can help you find Utau and Kukai. Let's see..." His eyes unfocused as he started to search through his memories for a certain conversation from earlier that day.

_Flashback to one and a half hours before..._

_Yuu had opened the door, after a legnthy and persistant round of knocking, from a person why would just not knock it off.**(Pun...unintended but highly appreciated. :P)**_

_He had found a grinning Kukai. When Yukari appered behind him to see what was going on, Kukai asked "Oh? Was I interupting anything? I'm just here for Utau."_

_A few hasty red-faced explanations and a "Just kidding with ya!" later to the chesire cat grinning troublemaker also known as Souma Kukai, Utau appeared in the doorway from the studio. "Kukai?" She asked in a soft voice, even though he was in full visibility range of the star, and therefore the fact she was there was very obvious.  
_

_With her arrival, the badgering had stopped. "Yup! Who else could beat the superstar in a ramen eating contest? None other than the great Kukai!" Kukai teased lightly._

_Only, Utau didn't take it as lightly as he had intended. "Are you saying you can do better in a ramen contest than I could, soccer boy?" Her aura was menacing. _

_"Uhh..." His surprised uncertainty quickly faded to a gamely smirk. "Of course. Any day, any time, any where, any ramen. I'm be best and nothing you can ever do will change that."_

_"Oh really?" Was the response he got as she unconsciously backed him up into the wall. "Then-" _

_They were cut off by Yuu and Yukari smiling at the two competitive friends. "Are we interrupting something?" Yukari asked in a sweet voice._

_Kukai burst out laughing. Utau smiled back at her. "No, nothing. Nothing at all. The question is are _we _interrupting anything." The older couple blushed slightly. Before they had started to speak, Kukai waved them off. "We'll be having a ramen competition if you need us. See the Nikaidous later!" **(NOTE: Yukari is not married to Yuu. It's just a crack at the two of them, orchestrated by Kukai.)**_

_The two of them walked out of the door, lightening visible, glaring at each other. Yup, definitely a ramen competition waiting to happen..._

"And that'_s _what happened to them." Yuu finished recounting earlier that day for a yawning Miki. He scrutinized the blue chara intensely for a moment, and then said "Come on. I'll drive to their favorite ramen place. They might still be there." With a small nod and thanks from Miki, the three of them piled into Nikaidou Yuu's car.

_With Amu..._

When Amu next looked up, the storm had long since subsided. The two chara eggs were sitting right next to her, having fallen out of her pocket as a product of the shaking and shivering and writhing during the thunderous storm. As she slowly disentangled herself from the aged wood, she winced. Her hands were covered in splinters from the wood she had clutched for dear life.

It had been a painstaking process-both lengthy and painful-but an hour and a half later she was splinter-free. Her reddened, tender hands picked up the two extremely important eggs gingerly.

The butterfly was supposed to be her sister's, and with her since it is her soon-to be chara. While she didn't know what it stood for or it's personal skills, it didn't matter. She had to protect it until her sister could. That meant it was her responsibility. To her sister, to her family, to her own self and her morals.

A heart's egg, with all it is if it is born into a shugo chara, is the most emotionally important piece of a person. A heart's egg was the physical embodiment of dreams and desires. It provided the fuel to motivation and the glory of reaching goals. It was the part of a person that kept them mentally intact and focused. Motivated, happy, determined, smiling, and so much more.

And she had sworn to protect all and any hearts eggs she encountered in her short career as a chara bearer and a Guardian.

That brought her thoughts to the other, more mysterious diamond egg in her hand. Dia had always been a bit mysterious. It took shine-or distinct lack of the same- to get any reaction from her. She was impenetrable and unshatterable as a diamond. And so much more. She was Amu's chara, and had been Utau's, yet was such an unknown and a variable. No one knew much about her at all, in fact.

Amu sighed. She'd protect them, and all the others she encountered. That is, inferring that she somehow, sometime, someway got out of her rocky prison.

Still, it gave the pinkette time to take a step back and think about what happened to her. It had all just come in so fast, but with nothing else to do, she turned to her own private thoughts for entertainment.

After a while of mindless sifting, she came across her finding out about Nagihiko being Nadeshiko as well. She remembered her initial anger. A talon of that rage snarled and reached for her. She shunned it. Nagihiko was her friend, and so had been Nadeshiko. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she valued him. His input into the Guardians, his understanding of her, him always helping her out and giving awesome advice...

She wanted him. No, not like that you perverts. She wanted him to be her friend. No matter what happened with Nadeshiko, she had valued that friendship as well. And while it wasn't exactly a walk in the park to discover your friend's cross dressed self was your best friend, she would deal with it. Come what may, she would deal with it.

Not that that meant he would be so easily forgiven. But she also needed his help with getting her parents back, Infighting would do no one any good-least of all her and her parents. She would need his help to get them back, if nothing else.

Sighing, she turned so she curled up on her side. Her parents...how were they doing now?

_With Tsumugu and Ami..._

The upended food had long since been cleaned up. After a few hours of celebration and screaming later, he and Ami fell asleep, leaning on the wall. It was a deep, dreamless sort of sleep. Both would wake up well rested, and still stuck.

If nothing else, it provided a small break from the shouts for Komichu and the other Easter employees. And a small break from the constant worries the screaming brought for the three captives in the other room, provided that it was a time they could hear the anguished yells of Tsumugu.

But, for the moment, they were totally safe in their own worlds.

Little did anyone know what was to happen.

_With Komichu's presently unnamed boss..._

He was never identified and few actually had seen him-and of those who had the privilege even fewer knew who he really was. It was a secret fit to keep, at least for the moment.

Revealing his identity too early could leave to unseen and unplanned for responses and unnecessary violence. He didn't want to see anyone hurt because of him. Physically, that was. One like him never looked far to find new people to impress into his staff.

He let himself enjoy a grim grin. His plan was coming to a head. He tapped into the computer screens that displayed for the three saner-appearing captives the bugs that he had ordered put up a few days previous.

He heard the door open, and the shuffle of footsteps as someone stepped inside. He swiveled his chair to come face to face with Komichu.

Komichu was one of his most loyal workers, for a reason few shared. And even those who did refused to. The guy was irreplaceable, as he could see charas. Not that he couldn't himself. It just made him more valuable, especially as it was a skill few had.

A little light shone into the room as the presently unnamed boss handed Komichu a piece of bubble wrap.

After hearing Komichu's response to the simplicity of a small pocket in plastic that contained air. It was supposedly easy to pop. And from the look on Komichu's face, it was imensely satisfying as well.

Komichu was the only other one besides the boss himself who knew the plan in it's entirety, or thought he did. There were a couple _small _details that were unknown to the young man. He didn't know besides the first motive why he had some of the people here he did. The first motive was enough information for him to do his job.

A few minutes and a crunched up piece of bubble wrap later, Komichu sat back, glaring as a frown took over the place on his face that just moments before had been occupied by a maddening grin of pure, lavish happiness. It was time for the games to end and the business to begin.

**Me: Hi guys! Only five days this time, huh. And an extra long chapter to make up for the shorter chapter last time and the lack of updates. You know what? For the first time I cracked four thousand words! *cheers* It's an achievement for me.**

**Rima: Yeah, yeah.**

**Nagihiko: Well, you did accomplish a lot in this chapter, don't you think, Meyumi-chan?**

**Me: I suppose...anyway. I'm going away, starting tomorrow. I won't be back until next Sunday. I'm not sure if I'll be able to bring my laptop and work on my stories, but I'll do my best.**

**Yukari: Meyumi-chan has no time-management skills whatsoever.**

**Yuu: And while she's an honors student, her summer HW is weighing her down. She's nowhere near college and she's taking an AP college course. Besides two years of math, and a lot more. She's going to an advanced students high school is why but still...it's a LOT of work.**

**Me: *sigh* I managed to write a bit more Kutau. :( But as I've tried to get across, they're good friends and ramen buddies.**

**Kukai: Derp!**

**Utau: Hai.**

**Me: Oh, and just to clear it up, Komichu is NOT an embodiment of myself. I repeat, Komichu is a TOTALLY made up character. Now, will someone do the review line? I love reviews. I like to hear what I'm doing right, what you want to see, and frankly, even though I'm continuing the story no matter what it's empowering to hear that people like-even think highly of this story of mine.**

**Komichu's Boss: Hi. No, Meyumi-chan will not tell you my true name just yet. But in the meanwhile, please review Meyumi-chan's story after you read it. If she didn't make it obvious, they are very apreciated.  
**


	13. To Help an Amu

**Me: Hello minna-san! I'm was on vacation when I started this...and I'm going to camp in two days so this is my last update. Unfortunately, I managed to forget to save again. I mean seriously, how technology prone can I be? Anyway, first, thanks to Apple-chan, Ama-Hinamori-Sohma, Aimz and Taeniaea for reviews. Now...for our cast star of the day! Let's welcome...**

**Rima: It's not me. *glares***

**Nagihiko: Or me. *holds hair up***

**Nadeshiko (Nagihiko, yeah duh): Or me. *girly voice***

**Amu: Or me. *tosses hair supposedly indifferent, but is inside insanely curious***

**Tadase: Or me. *kingly smile***

**Ikuto: Or me. *smirks* But you wish it was.**

**Kukai: It's me. *huffs***

**Me: That's right...wait what? No, it isn't.**

**Kukai: *glares***

**Me: The star is our one and only Miki.**

**Miki: *is poofed in* Huh? What?**

**SC Cast: Why Miki? :-?**

**Me: Umm, hello? Because I said so?  
**

**SC Cast: Oh...**

**Me: *sweatdrop* Komichu, if you please?**

**Kukai: *huffs***

**Komichu: *backs away from Kukai, who is foaming at the mouth* I don't know why I'm here. But it can't take too long, can it? I'm the only thing Meyumi-chan owns here besides the plot.**

**Me: *ignores Kukai* Thank you.  
**

To Help an Amu

_Last Chapter..._

_Komichu was the only other one besides the boss himself who knew the plan in it's entirety, or thought he did. There were a couple small details that were unknown to the young man. He didn't know besides the first motive why he had some of the people here he did. The first motive was enough information for him to do his job._

_A few minutes and a crunched up piece of bubble wrap later, Komichu sat back, glaring as a frown took over the place on his face that just moments before had been occupied by a maddening grin of pure, lavish happiness. It was time for the games to end and the business to begin._

_With Yukari, Yuu, and Miki..._

No one spoke, and so an uncomfortable, unshatterable silence pervaded through the car. Determination was written over their features. Yuu and Yukari had just finished listening to Miki's tale.

The car stopped short as Yuu Nikaidou pulled into a parking spot near the ramen place Kukai and Utau went to. They piled out of the car.

The silence was shattered when they opened the door to the place. They took a glance around the room. No...no...no...a certain ramen-slurping couple in the midst of yet another competition to see who could eat more ramen. From the looks of it, they had been going at it awhile. Sighing, the trio made their way carefully towards their furiously competitive friends.

Catching sight of Yukari and Yuu, as well as sensing the presence of another shugo chara, Iru and Eru flew towards the couple with Daichi in tow. Miki flew out from behind Yuu as the three shugo charas reached them. As if by some silent agreement, they all went and sat down on a nearby table. Yuu and Yukari took their time, making their way steadily over to Kukai and Utau's table.

_With Eru, Iru, Daichi, and Miki..._

After the blue-themed chara flew out from behind Yuu, they had all gone to a nearby table. Said table remained silent for a few seconds, before they erupted into chatter, following a completely off topic, normal-Eru response.

All the other charas facepalmed. "We knew that already," Daichi moaned. Iru hmnph'd and Miki just smiled sweetly. Eru then turned to Miki, and asked the question no one else would. Dense...so is the Eru.

"Miki, why are you here, and where is Amu-chan?" was the inquiry.

Miki looked down at her hands. The other charas waited for a response. "Amu-chan is in trouble-"

She was quickly cut off by Eru. "If Amu-chan is in trouble, then why aren't you there helping her? AHH! I NEED TO GO HELP AMU-CHAN!" Eru shouted as she attempted to fly out the window.

Luckily, Iru caught her before she went off and did anything rash. "Oh just SHUT UP already, Eru. You don't even know where Amu-chan is. Listen to Miki." Iru crossed her arms as Eru settled back onto the table with an audible sigh.

"Amu-chan is…in trouble. She fell into a hole when we were walking in the forest. Before we-Ran, Su, or I- could do anything, the hole closed over her head. We think it's one of Tsukasa's."

"So just press the trigger stone, tree or whatever, and be done with it!" Daichi said.

Iru, being a tad smarter, said. "BAKA! If it was that simple, Amu-chan would be out of the hole, and Miki wouldn't be here! She wants help to find the stone, isn't it obvious?"

Yuu, Yukari, Utau, and Kukai were having a similar conversation over at their table, their ramen competition postponed indefinitely. After being joined by the charas, they all trooped to Nikaidou's car.

Unfortunately, they got stuck in traffic. After about a half hour of not going much of anywhere quickly, Utau and Kukai bailed. Both hopped out of the vehicle, and went around a grayish, windowy building. They then character changed, with Daichi and Eru, to gain a skateboard and wings respectively. They were off.

_With Ran…_

Ran was VERY dizzy. She was sure she hadn't hit a tree. But had she actually done just that? Hit a tree she hadn't seen going at top speed, and blanked out? Not too unlikely-except that she hadn't hit a tree. Then she started to hear voices.

"…what's going on…"

"…she wake up…"

"…don't know…-dechu"

"…already been a half hour…"

She sat up in the midst of the confusion, as seven pairs of eyes craned to see her small, pink frame. Ran curled up against herself, from the four pairs of foggy eyes she could see.

_With Rima, Yaya, Pepe, and Kusukusu…_

Rima had turned around with a small jolt of adrenaline shooting through her veins when something fell onto her back.

Whatever it was was either heavy or fast, as it dug into the soft skin of her back. It fell to the ground as she turned around. Getting on her knees, she started looking for the object that had fallen off her back.

"Playing in the leaves! Yay!" Kusukusu laughed, flopping down into the leaves right next to where Rima was searching, scattering leaves all over the place. Ignoring Rima's glare, Pepe followed suit. Both charas were having a blast, ignoring Rima's glares.

Yaya pulled on Rima's shirt to stop her, as she stepped on something that gave way with a snap. Picking up the pieces, it was two pieces of pink, curved plastic, and one of them had a red heart on the side...just like Ran's visor!

A moment later, Kusukusu let out a yelp as she fell on something harder yet more yielding than the leaves she had been jumping on. She and Pepe were pushing leaves aside, when they came upon the inert body of Ran. Obviously, they started freaking out. Rima walked over there with the two halves of the visor. The four of them created a soft cushion of leaves for Ran, where she lay in her unconscious state for something like half an hour.

Half an hour and a lot of mindless conversation later, the bundle moved. Finally, it had done something. It didn't respond to anything-not Yaya's impatient poking or Rima or Kusukusu's jokes. Least of all to Pepe's bottle and rattles. They had just made Ran snore that much more loudly.

Pink eyes met two pairs of golden eyes and two pairs of brown ones. She backed up for a second, not having any clue where she was. Then she recognized them. "Yay! I found Rima-chan and Yaya-chan!" Her face twisted into a grin, and then turned to a frown. "Do you have any idea where Nagi or Tadase might be?"

"Why would you be looking for that _eggplant_?" Rima stated. "But I don't know where the princy boy is."

Ran's face fell, then brightened. "Oh well, at least I found you. I can start looking for them soon. Come on! I need your help! Amu-chan is in trouble!"

Rima groaned. "When isn't she?"

Ran frowned. Yaya grinned. "Let's go help Amu-chi, Rima-chan!"

"Oh, alright. Pepe, Kusukusu, let's go!"

"Hai!" "Hai-dechu!"

The now party of five followed Ran's direction back to the spot where Amu had fallen. Surprisingly, they were unobservant enough to miss one small, miniscule detail that certainly did not miss them.

_With Nagihiko..._

Nagihiko peered down at Ran, as did his two charas, at sight of movement. She woke up-finally. It had taken long enough, almost half an hour after she had run into Rima's back.

He seemed to be glued to the branch he was sitting on, courtesy of Rhythm. Unfortunately, that meant he couldn't jump down to see what was up and hear their conversation. With a lot of quiet arguing from Rhythm, listening in was nearly impossible. When he finally disentangled himself from his chara, a few minutes later, the conversation was over, and Rima, Yaya, their charas, and Ran were walking away.

Mentally cursing annoying and 'cool' charas, he jumped down from his high perch, to land in the soft leaves brought by early autumn that had been previously played with by Kusukusu and Pepe. The party of five turned to orient themselves toward Nagihiko, whose two charas had just flown down next to be next to their bearer.

"Yay! Nagihiko's here! Now I don't have to look for him!" Ran almost squealed with delight. Temari laughed. Rhythm gave a thumbs up. The two other charas just looked confused. As did Yaya. Rima, however, had a dangerous look on her face.

"Purple-head, what are you doing here?" Rima said in a low, dangerous voice with an even darker aura surrounding her angelic locks. It was frightfully dangerous looking, and even a scared Yaya backed away from Rima.

"Rima-tan, you're scaring Yaya..." Yaya dragged off.

Nagihiko winced and bowed his head. "Sorry for the intrusion?" He phrased it as a question. He then went over to give Rima a hug. She pushed him to the ground, only then noticing the headphones that disappeared upon contact with an intruding tree root. One pushable Nagihiko, satisfaction guarrenteed.

"Ran. Lead off." Rima said curtly, leaving a fallen Nagihiko, a scared Yaya, and two oblivious charas in the dust. Ran just looked around, back to Rima and shook her still-visorless head.

"I need Nagihiko too. He comes with us." She then flew over to Nagihiko and poofed up some pom-poms. Grinning she started to cheer for Nagihiko to stand up. Pretty senseless cheers as well, but she was joined by Pepe and Kusukusu, who were both just looking for a good time.

"Nagi, you can do it!...Come on, let's go, get up!...ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR! GET YOUR BUTT OFF THE FLOOR..."

These just resulted in a good-natured sigh, a squeal with a poofing of human-sized pompoms and a heart barrette, and an upturned nose, from Nagihiko, Yaya and Rima perspectively. Wait...heart clips and pom-poms?

Yaya's "EHHHHHHHHH!" could be heard all around-penetrating even Amu's prison and the rooms in which the other Hinamoris, Tsukasa, and Ikuto stayed. Things like that make you feel bad for people with acute hearing.

Looking more closely,each pom-pom had thousands of little, red hearts adorning it's many light pink plastic strings. Hearts...they all looked to Ran, who was giggling. "Character changes are fun! Even if theyMik're tiring if they're not with your own owner, they're always fun!" As she twirled, Yaya went through a cheerleader routine only a dancer like Yaya could have pulled off. Even Nagihiko was grimacing.

Even though they all clapped when it finished, Ran just gave Yaya a embarrased look as she zoomed to the general vicinity of where Amu was, the others following closely.

Once they were there, Ran started to look around for something-no..._someone._ And that someone's name was Su. She called out for Su, soon joined by the charas. They starting roving around in the grass for the sight of said green chara, followed by their quieter bearers.

_With Amu..._

Amu heard voices in the distance and wondered if Ran or Miki were returning. Smiling hopefully at the thought, she called out to them. "Miki! Ran! Over here!"

_With Su..._

Su woke up, her head resting on Mr. Squirrel's kitchen table. For a moment, she didn't recognize her surroundings. Then it hit her. Amu-chan falling, her waiting for the others to return so she could show them where exactly she had fallen.

With an "Oh, my,~Desu," she flew purposefully out of the now-clean abode of Mr. Squirrel to find them. Once outside, she heard grass moving right behind her. Looking down. she saw Ran. With her were Rhythm, Temari, Pepe, and Kusukusu. Behind them were Nagihiko, Rima, and Yaya. There were no smiles, nothing but seriousness with them. They also only shared one question.

"Where is Amu-chan?"

Leaving Su to explain, Ran started on her way to look for Tadase and Kiseki. They had the best chance out of anyone to find where the way in was, if it was indeed one of Tsukasa's many, many tunnels.

_With Miki and Yuu..._

Miki facepalmed as she went with Yuu to where they thought Utau and Kukai went. They had no clue where the pair of ramen-lovers went, nor where they thought they were going, besides the Seiyo school itself.

They had left Yukari in the car, in hopes of finding Utau and Kukai before they left. Again, where did they think they were going? It would do no one any good to see them get lost. Least of all Amu-chan, who they were going to help save.

Not finding anyone there, they two trooped back to the car, pulled off onto a side road, and the now-trio went to Seiyo as fast as the car would carry them.

_With Utau and Kukai..._

Utau and Kukai landed at the school and looked around. _That_ was when they realized they should have asked Miki for more specific directions. After facepalming, they went hunting around the school, screaming as to find Su, who Miki said was where Amu was.

Then they saw a bit of pink flash by them, near some of the woods near the school building. That pink blur came to a stop and wheeled backwards, until she was face to face with the pair.

"Ran!" Daichi called out. "What are you doing here? Where's Amu-chan?"

After Ran's brief confusion passed, she replied with a question of her own. "Where's Miki?"

Daichi laughed nervously as he looked around at the faces of Iru, Eru, and both his and their owners. He let out another nervous laugh as he saw all their stares boring into him. It was clear that he was the one who would have to deal with Ran and her inquiry. And explain exactly why her sister wasn't there. After shrinking for a moment, he started to pull on his shining armor.

Drawing a rattling breath, he started to explain. "Well, you see..." He stopped abruptly as he felt Miki's prescense come into the area, followed by the dull moan of a car pulling into the nearby lot. Thanking his lucky stars, he proceded to attempt to stall Ran's questions for the moment, until Miki could show up.

And she did, flanked by Yuu and Yukari. A very pissed off Yuu and Yukari. Wincing at their expression, he turned to them. "And here is Miki." Daichi mumbled in Ran's direction.

Miki was panting, again. She got out a few words, still breathing heavily. "Why...did...you...guys...have...to...go...ahead...like...that? Wait...for...me!" Then she caught sight of her sister. "Ran!"

Ran grinned before flying up and giving her sister a bear hug. "Miki!" After a moment, she asked the inevitable. "Where were you?

Miki laughed as she leaned into Ran's hug. Finally pushing away the comforting arms, she sighed. "Ask them. They ran off as soon as I told them Amu-chan was in trouble."

"I did." Ran glared.

"Anyway, did you find Kusukusu and everyone?" Miki inquired.

"Nope!" Ran quipped. Pushing a finger to her chin, she rephrased it. "Well, almost. I found Nagi, Rima, Yaya, and their charas."

"And Tadase?" Miki asked gently.

Ran scrunched her face up."No one has any idea where Tadase is." Grinning, she added, "So I'm looking for him now." Turning to Miki, she said "You don't think..." She trailed off.

Miki scrunched up her face. "I hope not."

Ran flew up to Miki, close enough that no one would hear their whispered conversation, except maybe Utau. Hopefully Utau. "Why is Utau here? Isn't she supposed to be fighting Amu-chan?"

Miki winced. "She was _supposed to._ Okay, so she is and she is only here because Kukai asked her to. She's friends with Kukai."

"Won't he know that wasn't the case?" Ran thought aloud.

"He'll just have to go with it." Miki responded. A bit louder, she said "Anyway, go get to finding Tadase. The more people we have looking for the entrance, the better. I'll go find Su and the others."

Ran smiled, and caught on to what Miki was doing. "Okay! Good luck!" With a last look at Utau and her sister, she ran off, in search of the kingly shugo chara and his blonde-haired bearer.

Miki turned to the five who were still watching Ran's exit. Well, four. One was too busy wincing at the bits of conversation she had overheard and realizing her mistake. Her facade might be over before it even started.

"Come on, guys. We need to get to Amu-chan!" Miki said, snapping them out of their trance. They followed Miki through the nearby woods to where Su and the rest were searching. They were met with an interesting sight.

_With Su, Rima, Yaya, Nagihiko, Temari, Rhythm, Kusukusu, and Pepe..._

After the period of staring as Ran ran off. Su realized that she now only had a vague idea of which area around the tree she had emerged from Amu-chan was in. After informing a few people of their plight, they all set off to searching.

Some of them were on the ground, searching through the leaves. Some were around nearby trees, in hopes of finding Amu's tree. There was no leaf-playing now-the Guardians were down to business.

So down to business that they didn't notice Miki and her crew emerging from the thicket behind them. Until Su looked up to see her sister, flipping through her drawing pad. "Miki!~desu" Su yelled as she abandoned her place in the leaves, near the foot of a tree.

"Su! Good to see you." Miki mumbled as she concentrated on a certain page of her drawing book.

Nagihiko looked up at the noise and motioned Kukai and, with a little hesitation, Utau over to explain where they were looking. Miki was still frowning.

"Su, are you _sure_ this is where Amu-chan is?" Miki inquired confusedly.

"I think so," Su answered. "~desu" She added cheerfully. Then she flew over to where she could see the drawing Miki had been staring at. For a moment both just stared at the drawing.

"Well?" Miki drew out the word loudly. Loudly enough to merit the attention of five teens and seven charas.

"I...don't think so, anymore ~desu" Su said quietly. Then she looked out at everyone. "Gomenasai ~desu"

The small area was fraught with stifling silence. A gout of wind ruffled the leave around everyone, while Miki started to look around. Seemingly satisfied, she flew over to a tree a few trees away from the makeshift search-and-rescue group.

"This is the tree Amu-chan was leaning against when she fell." Miki went a few feet away from the tree. "That means Amu-chan is around here." She pointed out, feeling as if she was talking to a baby. The guilty look on Su's face completed the scene.

Rima's hands balled up into fists, and in a low, angry voice she started. "Su..." She said, drawing out her name. Su shivered. Just as she was about to shoot up at the chara, Rima was stopped by Yaya. Stopping for a second, Rima spared her best friend a look.

"Rima-tan..." Yaya moaned under her breath. "Yaya thinks that yelling at Su won't help. Yaya thinks that we need to help Amu-chi. Going at Su-chan won't do anything." Yaya then saw her friend's expression and shut up. For a long moment, no one said anything. Kusukusu didn't even laugh. Miki was still pointing at the spot that her drawing said Amu would be under.

"Yaya-chan is right, you know." Nagihiko said looking up at Rima. Rima sent him an icy glare, yet Nagihiko remained seemingly unfazed. "Yelling at Su or even tearing her to pieces," Su shivered at the mental image that brought. "Will not help us find Amu-chan. Besides, do you think Amu-chan will be happy to lose another chara? She's still hung up over the fact Dia went back into her egg, even though she's accepted it." Nagihiko turned to Miki. "If that's where Amu-chan is, then we need to be over there, searching for her. Isn't she your friend too? Don't you want her back? Then come on. she needs our help."

Nagihiko got up, leaves crunching under his feet, and walked over to where Miki was pointing, and started to move the leaves around in an attempt to find where Amu had fallen through. Rima rocked back on her heels. The seven charas, after Kusukusu sparing Rima a sidewards glance, went to search by the tree. Miki started to search with them a few seconds later.

Rima stayed in place, with Yaya's arm slung around her shoulder. Realizing it was still there, she shook Yaya off. With a glance backwards and a frown, she went to join the search crew. Rima thought about what purple-head had said. Sighing, and admitting to herself-and only to herself, never aloud- she went to join them. Soon they were back to chatting and searching.

No one heard the rumbling of the black limo-shaped car that pulled into the parking lot. Not even Yuu and Yukari, who were long gone.

_With Komichu..._

Komichu sat in the back of the car of Easter's, twirling his prize, the empty key, around his finger. He put his other fingers up, and grasped the key, letting the chain fall from his finger. Bringing it up to his face, he smiled. It was a smile, evil and twisted no less.

He wondered if the Guardians and their Tsukiyomi allies knew what they had forgotten. But he hadn't forgotten. Not the missing pieces, their owners, the real owner of the key, and his unrequited quest for the Embryo.

He had to unlock the secret of the Embryo. For that he needed the complete lock and key. He had all the pieces in place, all the pawns doing just what he wanted them to. Maybe he could shorten the process by taking prisoners?

He shook his head at that thought, banishing it for the moment. If he had to go out of his way for those, it wouldn't be worth it. It would just be another laugh. He had all the prisoners he needed. Check. Now he just needed to get to the last bit. Just a bit farther.

His prophesied Checkmate.

The time was approaching. Quickly. The time to act. The time to show that he was a winner. The world was full of losers, but he would be the winner.

Popping the key into his pocket and donning his black hat, he picked up one small piece of bubble wrap. Popping it, one by one, helped him to forget his problems for a moment. How he longed for the ability to be able to put his mind on something more savory than the problem at hand, like bubble wrap, without losing sight of the problem, and of course, his overall goal.

On the seat of the car, right next to him, appeared a shaking ovallular prisim. An egg-shaped object.

Komichu stared at it for a moment, thoughts flowing through his head like water flows through a river. Shaking his brimming cranium, he placed the unidentified object in his pocket, right next to the key. Straightening up, he opened the door of the car and walked out.

**Me: Done! Finally! I promised one more chapter before I left, didn't I?**

**Rima: You just made it. *sideways glare***

**Me: I couldn't help it. I was busy, and although I knew what I wanted to happen, I had some writers block. Happens to everyone.**

**Rima: Yeah...right.**

**Me: Well, I shall be gone until the middle of August, starting Wednesday. We shall see after that what happens. This story is not complete, and I refuse to abandon it. ;D But I kept to my personal deadline and my promise didn't I? **

**Yaya: Yaya says something in the story! Yay! Yaya is happy!**

**Me: *sighs, sweatdrop* *under breath* Of course you are, Yaya. **

**Sorry for the story being a bit slow. With the level of detail I feel this part needs, it needs to be a bit slow. Sorry!**

**Since you're so happy, Yaya, you can do the review line, can't you? *puppy dog eyes***

**Rima: Whatever.**

**Yaya: Yay! Meyumi-chi (Me: It's Meyumi-chan! First Yua, and then Yaya? Seriously? Rima: Shut. Up. And let Yaya talk.) *ignores interruption* Meyumi-chi would love to read your thoughts and reviews on her story!**

**Me: Thanks, Yaya! See you all in August!  
**


	14. First Glance

**Meyumi-chan: It's been awhile- a bit over a month. I just got back from camp. I shall be here though-I'm not going away again. But I have summer homework, so we shall see how that affects this story's development. Anyway, Thanks to Ama-chan, Apple-chan, and Aimz-chan for reviews. Now onto the story.  
**

**Komichu: All I have to say to you is What. The. Hell.**

**Meyumi-chan: *smiles devilishly***

**Kukai: Oddly enough I agree with you, Komichu.**

**Ikuto: Cool Story Bro.**

**Rima: Oddly enough, I agree with Ikuto.**

**Amu: What has the world come to?**

**Meyumi-chan: I suppose I should be saying that to you, Amu.**

**Komichu: *coughs* I'm here, you know?**

**Kukai: So'm I.*glares at Meyumi-chan***

**Meyumi-chan: *deep in argument with dense, dense Amu***

**Kukai: Hey, bro. Wanna do the disclaimer?**

**Komichu: Sure.**

**Komichu & Kukai: Meyumi-chan doesn't own us.**

**Komichu: Wait, she does own me...**

**All: *facepalm***

**Ikuto: Guys, this is how you do it. Watch the chibi devil.**

**Rima: *glares at Ikuto* Fine but...you owe me, neko-boy. Meyumi-chan does not own Shugo Chara.**

**_NOTE: Hi guys! As I said in my description, I'm redoing some chapters. The basic ideas are the same, but some stuff makes no sense/is contradictory. Look at the first one I revamped-Prophecy-for more details. All redone ones will have some sort of note to suggest such._  
**

First Glance

_Last Chapter..._

_On the seat of the car, right next to him, appeared a shaking ovallular prisim. An egg-shaped object._

_Komichu stared at it for a moment, thoughts flowing through his head like water flows through a river. Shaking his brimming cranium, he placed the unidentified object in his pocket, right next to the key. Straightening up, he opened the door of the car and walked out._

_With Tadase and Kiseki ..._

Tadase had been doing research of his own. He'd pulled apart his uncle's study, looking for one drawing. It could be practically anywhere, and he hadn't much time to find it. He wasn't familiar with it's content, but he was certain he'd know when he found it. It had to do with the picture book that rested under his arm.

Kiseki decided to help Tadase out, but not by looking. He'd fashioned a throne-of-sorts out of small books glued together by Tsukasa and a piece of balled up paper from his desk. He was keeping watch for both intruders and friends. Tadase had no idea what their friends might be doing at the moment, but he would go find them-_after _he found what he was looking for. He could only hope that they could wait that long.

Kiseki lounged a bit longer before straightening in his seat. There was a chara in the area. A clatter behind him signaling breaking glass completed the guess. Said chara was euphoric over seeing the kingly pair, but not unkindly so. They were more worried about seeing her. Trouble awaited.

"Yay! I finally found you!" Ran squealed.

Kiseki groaned, then grinned, looking up to the area Tadase was in. Tadase was still looking at the broken window, a shard of glass in one hand and the picture book in another. Turning to Ran, he exclaimed, "Good, commoner. Now go help Tadase look for his drawing."

Ran put her hands on her hips and started her rant with a glare at Kiseki. "No...Amu-chan is in trouble! You need to come help _us_! We can't get her out!"

Tadase had put his attention to Ran after the whole 'Amu-chan is in trouble' part. "Amu-chan is in trouble? Get her out of what?"

Sighing heavily in a way prone to sound like a bad dramatic movie, Ran skimmed briefly over the story of Amu and the tunnel. The retelling ended with "Everyone is trying to help Amu-chan, but if it's one of Tsukasa's tunnels, you would be able to do more than all of us put together. So come on! We need to help Amu-chan!"

"Yeah," Tadase agreed. Then he called out to Kiseki, who had been idly toying with a scepter made out of crumpled paper. "Kiseki, let's go!"

With a groan of "Why" the chara pushed himself up from the chair and flew to the space near his shoulder. In a commanding voice he said "Let's go."

And so they were off.

_With Amu..._

It had only taken her a few moments to process why her yelling wouldn't work. Stupid metal door, stupid underground chamber, stupid, stupid, stupid. At least, she reflected, she could scream out in frustration without anyone coming up and asking her if something was wrong. _That_ just got annoying, more times than not.

Pulling her legs to her chest, she moved so her back was against solid earth. The eggs had rolled out of her pocket, but she didn't care. There was no one there that could harm them.

For a moment, she just sat there. That was when she noticed the earthy scent that permeated the chamber. It was fresh, new, and clean-smelling. A clear if strong scent. No, not so much strong as accumulated. There was so much dust around the place that meant it had been abandoned for some time. If the scent of the earth had no way to escape-then what could it do?

It didn't matter so much to her-she didn't mind it. It reminded her of the forest. The forest full of friends, enemies, and most ofall mystery. The only way to the planetarium was the forest route, unless you wanted to fall down and break your crown, like Jack. Or be the next one and come tumbling after.

Cursing her idiocy, Amu picked up the two eggs. One of them started to crack, and in a second Amu was face to face with a chara.

_With Komichu..._

Komichu was not a complete idiot. Fingering the empty shell of the key for a moment, he shrugged and placed it in his pocket. It was black, with an ornamentally decorated five-limb star in the middle, and a whiteish gold fade into black in the inch or so surrounding it.

Didn't matter what it was-he had work to do. He set off in the direction of the school.

That was when he realized he had no clue where the cursed kids were. After smacking his head in frustration, he took out a small, dark maroon cell phone. After a quick call to his annoyed boss, he set out in the direction of the woods. He had them now.

_With Rima, Yaya, Nagihiko, Utau, Kukai, Kusukusu, Pepe, Temari, Rhythm, Eru, Daichi, Iru, Miki, and Su... **(AN: God, so many names.)**  
_

After a bit of digging around, the group found a bit of ground that clanged. Actually, it was by accident.

Kusukusu was trying to entertain Pepe, who was in the middle of an outburst. One of her spinning plates dropped, and she flew down quickly. She didn't realize how close she was to the ground, so she didn't get a chance to pull up short. When she banged into the grass, it was harder than expected, and there was a clang. She got right back up, rubbing her now-bruised bottom, forgetting the plate.

Pepe followed after her. "What happened~Dechu?"

"I don't know." Then Kusukusu started bawling, getting the attention of her owner.

"Kusukusu, what happened?" Rima asked, gently plucking the chara from the air to rest on her palm.

"I just asked her the same thing ~dechu" Pepe crossed her arms, eyes narrowing to slits.

"It hurt!" Was Kusukusu's answer. She pointed to where she had fallen. Rima followed the point.

"Guys! Over here!"

In a few moments, the crew had assembled by that spot. Most of it, anyway. Utau was still leaning on a tree. Kukai looked back at her. "Come on! We might have just found Hinamori! Aren't you going to help us?"

"No." Was the quiet reply. "I just came because you did. I don't have any reason for helping out Amu. In fact, I ought to just leave."

Kukai looked back at the girl in shock. His brain was trying to grasp the enormity of what she had said. Utau...Utau wouldn't help Amu? Her best friend? When she crucially needed it? But no, the look in the girl's eyes told him she was dead serious. So did her body language as she beckoned to Eru and Iru, turned her back on him, and walked away, towards the school.

She didn't look back.

With a final shocked glance back at her, Kukai ran off to help the others.

_With Utau..._

Utau sighed. Not in relief-never that. In frustration, because while her friend could use her help, she was stuck behind the facade she messed up and was trying to piece back together. Amu would have rathered that, wouldn't she? Wouldn't she get it in the long term? Wouldn't she? Or would it just stir up resentment between the two. Utau was confused. Utau was lost.

_With Minna-san...(**AN: Got tired of all the names...)**_

After a spell, they had managed to figure out, based on Miki's drawing and their own intuition, that they had found Amu. Or at least where she had fallen and would be. The wild goose chase would be over.

There was no more than a minor outrage that Utau left. So minor that had the girl been there, she might have been offended. The Guardians decided that she had left because she had a fight with Amu, and since they usually fought about everything they had no idea exactly what it might have been. That didn't matter. They needed to get Amu out of there and help her out with that other situation.

They went through techniques, character changes, character transformation attacks, the works. They could not get the tough metal to budge. Not even Nagihiko's katana could do more than scratch it, or Yaya's bottle dent it more than a little with repeated blows.

They had nothing better to do or try, so they kept on with it.

_With Amu..._

Amu heard some banging and clattering from above, and guessed her friends had found her. Great.

But it had been going on a while and she came to the obvious conclusion. Either her friends were in trouble, or they couldn't get in.. Or they weren't her friends at all. There was always the chance of construction going on in the area, although she dearly hoped there was none now.

But those were only minor details. Her sister's egg cracked, opened, and revealed a shugo chara. She had light blue hair with purple tips and streaks. She had a ponytail that covered the top half her hair, the rest going partway down her back. It was wispy and thin. She wore light blue butterfly wings edged in yellow, behind a light blue pair of loose capris and a pink and purple shirt. She also wore pink flats. She practically sparkled.

"Amu-chan!" She squealed. "My name is Sukira."

Amu stared shockedly at Sukira.

"Sorry for startling you, Amu-chan! I just wanted to say thank you for always helping Ami-chan! I can't wait to meet her! We shall meet again when I next hatch! Sayonara!" Sukira settled back in her egg. Almost before Amu knew what was happening, her egg sealed, and she became unresponsive.

For a moment, Amu just picked up the egg and stared at it.

_With Komichu..._

As it turned out, he had to do very little work to find the group, not with all the racket they had been making. Upon closer observation, the Guardians-and their charas. That stopped him a moment-he had never seen their charas. After taking a moment to study them, he continued with his original observations. The Guardians and their charas were encircling one randomish spot in the ground. They were so intent on this spot, they'd never notice him.

He stood, hidden in the shadow of the tree. A second later, an ornamentally decorated star appeared in his jacket pocket, and he moved forwards. It disappeared. A fazed Komichu barely noticed the lightening change. _Not Yet._ Said a little voice in his head, which he also ignored.

The Guardians soon noticed him, turning away from their task to meet him, weapons ready. He smiled. This would be easy.

Fingering the Key, he mentally put up a shield, between the Guardians and him. he was curious how long it would take them to strip it down. He waited, leaning against a tree, watching them struggle.

_With Amu..._

Amu numbly returned Sukira's egg to where it had originally rested, next to Dia. Then she slowly became aware of the sounds overhead. Much worse than before. That meant there had to be trouble.

And there she was, playing mouse, sitting helpless in a underground chamber. She _had _to get out of there. She _had _to help her friends. _She had to._

A voice came from the other egg. Dia's voice. "Character Change!"

Instantaneously, Amu's X hair clips turned to diamonds. She unclipped one of them and threw it up, almost like a shuriken, at the metal door. It sliced through the door in a diamond shape. Amu caught it, clipped it on, and dove for cover. The metal door was falling in.

_With Tadase, Kiseki, and Ran..._

They had ran as quickly as they could, following Ran's lead. After a few minutes, they came to a battle in progress. Their friends were stuck behind a rainbowy, opalescent wall. It looked to be made of the same material as the bubble he and Amu had been entrapped within not too long ago, at another battle.

Looking closely, there was a person on this side of the barrier. He seemed to be the only one there. He had to be operating the shield.

Ran had noticed something different-the ground,roughly where they thought Amu had fallen was moving. There was a flash of yellow, and a small area slowly began sinking into and through the ground. She was about to point it out to her charges when she got shushed by Kiseki.

Tadase character changed, the scepter appearing in his hands and the crown on his already-golden head. He leveled it at the person. Just as he shouted "Holy Crown!", a stream of yellow-gold erupted from his scepter. It hit the screen around the person, barely clipping his pants.

But it was enough, and the screen went down. Tadase looked at the man, who was staring wide-eyed at the screen, and was turning to Tadase. He was touching something in the general area of where Tadase had singed him, as the other Guardians, who in the deafening sound of their own attacks did not notice the chunk of earthy metal falling inwards, started to charge him.

Was Ran the only one who noticed? As soon as she could, she fluttered across the forest battlefield to where Amu would be. Hovering over that hole, she looked down.

Something golden, with a flash of pink looked back.

Without a second thought, Ran jumped. She plunged into the hole, drawing to a near-stop close to the bottom. Pink eyes met gold ones as grins broke out on both of their faces.

_On the ground..._

Komichu saw that he was fighting a losing battle as soon as the barrier went down. So he did what he thought best-and fled. But when he left, he left something behind. Something very important.

A second later, Amu and Ran popped up from the hole. Both were grinning and high-fiving each other.

"Amu-chan! (~desu)" The pair was joined by Miki and Su. Followed by the crowd of their friends, all of them saying how they were glad she was okay, and Amu herself laughing gently, all smiles.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something glinting in the grass. She'd go see what it was later.

_In Easter Monday..._

The boss looked down at his tightly folded hands. He, not unlike the saner captives, had seen what had happened. Komichu fail. Amu get saved. His frown deepened. Komichu was supposed to have done a better job than the boy before him had. His eyes crinkled in disappointment at the boy.

He stood up and went to stand by the window, looking out it for a while. There was nothing he could do at the moment.

_With Midori, Tsukasa, and Ikuto_...

The three lay back as they digested what had just unfolded before their eyes.

Tsukasa was frowning and smiling at the same time. Amu had forced her way out of that tunnel. That tunnel he had forgotten had existed. Was there a reason for it being _that _tunnel? He forced the memories back into the depths of his mind, swallowing against them. _Happy thoughts, _he thought, _Happy thoughts._

Midori didn't have half an idea what was going on, not being able to see charas. It brought her back to the questions. What had she ever wanted to be? Why couldn't she remember?

Ikuto had nothing on it. He was absorbed in the cloaked figure. The flashes he saw of him were familiar-looking, although he was sure he didn't know the man.

Each kept to their own thoughts for the moment. There was nothing that needed to be said. Tsukasa studied the cards on the ground once again, shaking his head. Ikuto took a nap. Midori was just spaced out.

_In the Royal Garden..._

All the Guardians showed up. All except Kairi, who of course was halfway across Japan. They needed a battle plan. They needed to get Tsukasa, Amu's parents and Ami back. There was no other option.

At a first glance, there was no plan. Then the unexpected happened.

The door to the Royal Garden was pushed open slightly. Only slightly enough to let a Guardian Character inside. A pair of blue eyes met the rest.

"Amu, help~nya!"

"Yoru!" Amu was the first to move in his direction. "Are you alright? What happened? Where's Ikuto?" Tadase scanned the trees inside the Royal Garden, not seeing any speck of blue out of place.

"Amu~nya!" Yoru collapsed, and Amu caught him and cradled him between her fingers. "Ikuto was caught.. He needs help~nya! It was Easter ~nya." After a moment's hesitation, he added "With Tsukasa and your parents ~nya."

Her face set itself into a firm, straight line. Yaya was making surprised noises. Nagihiko raised his eyebrows. Rima delicately sipped her tea, looking down. Tadase nodded, face bland. Kukai grinned. "So we've another person to save on our way out. Cool!" The other guardians just looked at him. "What did I do wrong?" Kukai asked worridly.

After a short, tense silence, Nagihiko sighed. "Ikuto or not, we still need a plan. But we aren't going to get any more done here."

"Let's meet at my house at seven." Tadase added. Kukai looked at his watch. It was half past five.

"We'll be there," Said Amu, on behalf of them all. "We sure will."

Then they all went home. Amu, still going to the Tsukiyomi's house, took Yoru with her.

_At the Tsukiyomi house..._

Utau was there a good half hour before Amu got back, and had thoroughly checked for bugs before Amu got home. She had found a couple outside, trained on windows and one on the walkway. She left them there-and made it look like she was doing something normal-climbing in a tree, reading a book, planting a few flowers she had forgotten about. She had also found spaces that there were no bugs. Places where she and Amu could talk, without getting noted by Easter. And a few other small details.

Amu forced herself not to grin. So _that _was what Utau had been doing. Oh. She kicked off her shoes and left them near the door, stuffing the note into her pocket. After a few other necessities, she made her way to where Utau was waiting.

"So, how is this going to work?"

The two got busy with detail work. The hour passed quickly, and Amu bid Utau farewell so she could go over to Tadase's for more of the endless strategy talk.

_At Tadase's_ house...

Soon everyone had arrived, and it was time to get to business. Utau wasn't there, for obvious reasons, but Amu would be relaying her the plan.

If they ever figured one out. Three quarters of an hour had passed and every plan anyone could think of had been shot down.

They hoped to do a quick raid to see what they could get. But Yoru had told them all about the situation at Easter. No one could come to a solution about how to work that for two groups. That tactic could only work for one group, and at that only if timed properly. And there was no way to time it properly.

Suddenly, Yaya hit upon an idea. Of a sort. "If only we could see what Amu-chi's mama and Tsukasa-chi and Ikuto-tan knows."

"Impossible." Said Nagihiko, quite practically. "We aren't mind readers. How would we ever manage that?"

"What if we were one of them? Or one of us was with them?" They turned to Amu, who had spoken.

"How would we communicate the results to ourselves?" Tadase asked, curiously attracted to the idea of a spy.

"Walkies!" Yaya squealed. "This could be a spy adventure! I wanna be part of it! Can I, Amu-chi?"

"Uh...Uhhhh...Sure?"

"YAY!"

"Okay, who gave Yaya candy?"

"She seems excited at the idea." Tadase noted, turning to Rima. ""Would y-"

"No." Rima cut him off.

"Amu then?"

All the Guardians were looking expectantly at Amu. Even Yaya. How could she say no and let down her friends? After all, they were the ones coming up with a plan to help her with her problem. "Okay, I guess." It was the least she could do.

Yaya screeched in delight.

"And Yaya solved our other problem for us." Tadase continued. "Walkie talkies. Between us we'd need three, I guess."

"Four." Amu corrected. "Utau might hate me now, but we'll be saving her brother at the same time. If for no one but him, she'll cooperate and help us." She sounded confident, and the Guardians shared a grin.

Then they truly rolled up their sleeves and got to work on the details of the plan.

**Meyumi-chan: And that concludes another chapter of The Guardians Forever. :D**

**Yaya: Yay!**

**Kukai: *sulking in a corner***

**Rima: He's still annoyed that the one chance he gets to do the disclaimer, he messes it up. It's unimportant.**

**Meyumi-chan: Hey Kukai! You could try the review line!**

**Kukai: *mumbles to himself and turns away.**

**Meyumi-chan: All righty then. Yaya?**

**Yaya: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WITH A CHAPTER ON TOP REVIEW! MEYUMI-CHAN _LOVES_ REVIEWS!**

**Meyumi-chan: Thank you, Yaya! It feels good to be home.**


	15. Operation Atalanta

**Meyumi-chan: Another chappie! Yay! Thanks to the reviewers.  
**

**Tsumugu: MEYUMI-CHAN!**

**Me: *sweatdrops* What?**

**Tsumugu: I WANNA SEE MY LITTLE SPARROW!**

**Me: All in good time, Tsumugu. All in good time.**

**Midori: Yes, honey. Shush. Then you can see Amu-chan. **

**Tsumugu: Al-alright.**

**Me: Hey! Can you two do the disclaimer while you're at it?**

**Midori: Sure!**

**Tsumugu: Meyumi-chan doesn't own Shugo Chara.**

Operation Atalanta

_Last Chapter..._

_"And Yaya solved our other problem for us." Tadase continued. "Walkie talkies. Between us we'd need three, I guess."_

_"Four." Amu corrected. "Utau might hate me now, but we'll be saving her brother at the same time. If for no one but him, she'll cooperate and help us." She sounded confident, and the Guardians shared a grin._

_Then they truly rolled up their sleeves and got to work on the details of the plan._

_With Ikuto, Tsukasa, and Midori..._

The threesome watched as, on screen, events began to unfold. Their thoughts were interrupted as the door creaked open. A guard walked in, dropped a tray on the floor, and walked out. There were three plates of chicken with broccoli, three glasses of water, three sets of utensils, and three napkins on the tray. Midori stood up and doled out the food. "Eat up." She said, putting a forkful of broccoli into her mouth.

Tsukasa followed suit. "Ikuto, wasn't Yoru here before?"

Ikuto sighed. "Yeah. Guess he got out. Sneaky cat."

Some small talk ensued as they ate their lunch. Putting all the dishes back on the tray, their gazes returned to the screens. Where little was happening at the moment.

Tsukasa pulled out one of his many sets of cards. Looking to the two of them. "Want to play?" And so endless games of Casino, War, Poker, and other games ensued. Midori found that she was not nearly up to their level in card games, and found herself content to watch the two males for a time.

Eventually the card-playing tapered off and it was evening, and another meal came. The food wasn't much, but it was obvious that they weren't going to be starved. Dinner's ensemble was a few pieces of cheese-and-spinach filled ravioli and another glass of water each.

Food was eaten, and they wondered at how the afternoon had slipped into evening and night. The Guardians had finished their planning. Utau and Amu finished their planning, and had staged an argument for the cameras.

Remembering earlier fights, Ikuto kept to his own counsel. Tsukasa said nothing on the topic, only touching the space where the black joker and blank card rested thoughtfully. Midori had freaked out initially. She couldn't wrap her head around her daughter fighting with a pop star, a singing sensation, a superstar in her own right. After all, it was hard to believe Amu was even acquainted with the girl. But fighting with her? That was simply absurd.

_The Next Day..._

The Guardians had finished preparing for their plans-except for one trip to the market to buy a few small items including extra walkie talkies, and to talk to two people. First was the trip to the market.

Amu and Yaya went over to the hair styling section. "Yaya likes this color dye!"She was holding up a bright green color dye.

"Yaya, let's look for one that resembles the hair we want, okay?"

Her annoyed cry was cut short by the look in Amu's eyes, almost haunted, but still quite determined. "Yes, Amu-chi!"

About a half hour later they found one of the necessary color, in the neighboring aisle. The other was tougher, but they found it eventually. They had ended up deciding to give everyone a radio, in case one was lost or people got separated.

After paying for the items with allowances and savings, they got stuffed into handbags and backpacks. Amu and Nagihiko separated from the group to make the two visits. Rima was going to help Yaya with her hair, and Kukai and Tadase were going to get the walkies set up.

The pair started to jog in different directions to get to their destinations. Amu was traveling a path that Utau had taken her down once. She dropped something from her pocket, something shiny. Turning around and bending to pick it up, it was that shard of clear crystal, the stone. From oh-so-long ago. It was shining. She raised an eyebrow at it, and re-stuffed it back into her pocket.

Her destination was Hikaru and Kazoumi's home. They would play a key part in their plan.

His destination was Nikaidou's residence. They would be needing his help as well.

Amu eventually reached the large house, panting. She stood up and rang the doorbell. Less than a minute later, Hikaru let her in. "Amu-san." She walked in, nodding to him.

"I have a favor to ask of your grandfather."

Hikaru nodded, and called out for Kazoumi while he left to get some tea. Kazoumi came down swiftly, and the pair talked, even with the awkwardness the animosity between the Guardians and Easter permeating the air, making it fraught with tension.

It had been different before, when the topics were more lighthearted. But now, with talk of X-eggs and enemies, the past was as visible as ever. Hikaru was the only one who picked up on it on a conscious level. Even then, the boy said nothing, as it was not his place.

Soon, the matter had been agreed on, and Amu rose and left, claiming she had something to do. And she did. Hopefully, her hair would dry before it all started.

Nagihiko, on the other hand, drank in the scenery for a second, when he stopped for a break. He barely knew where he was going, and getting himself lost was not on the agenda. They didn't have enough time to spare for that, so he checked the crude map Amu had drawn him. Once he regained his bearings, it wasn't too long of a trip before he reached Nikaidou's.

After ringing the doorbell, Nikaidou came to answer after a few seconds. Seeing Nagihiko, he gestured him inside. The place was shaggy and messy, reminiscent of Nikaidou. it was actually quite obvious it was his place. "So, what can I do for you?" Asked the teacher.

And so, Nagihiko told the basics of what Amu was dealing with with her family, and their plan. Nikaidou nodded. "If you can get that to work, it would be interesting to watch." Was all his reaction amounted to.

Despite his lax position, Nagihiko gained his cooperation. He handed one of the few walkies that Kukai had already set up to him, told him he'd be in touch, and was on his way back to his Guardian friends. There was work to be done and there was never enough time to do it all.

A little later they all met up at Amu's presently-deserted house. At least they didn't have to worry about their parents stumbling upon them there, even if they ran the risk of Easter finding out and coming up with a foil for their plan. It only took a few minutes to hand out the walkies, and they started walking while the collaborated on the more specific points of their plan. If it all went right, Operation Atalanta would be a complete success.

_With Komichu..._

The Boss had his fun berating him to shreds, and grating those shreds over a sewage pipe. Or at least that's how Komichu felt when he came out of that office. He spun the empty shape of the Key around his finger moodily. It wasn't his fault. Not his fault at all. But now the Guardians had some proof that he was involved, and because of him possibly Easter. Although, he was certain they hadn't seen the car. He moodily tromped his way to his office, where not even the redeeming qualities of bubble wrap could relieve him of his misery.

**Well, this is only a little added on to what I already had. I really don't have the time to spare to write, so I felt like I owed it to you guys to post this before I go worse AWOL.**


	16. Smoke and Mirrors

**Me: Okay, okay, okay. I kinda forgot about this story. But I'm going to make some attempt on it. :) After all, I know a lot of what's going to happen. I've made it clear on my profile page that I don't own any stories. I haven't even finished writing any yet. Oh, and I don't usually curse, but Komichu happens to. -shrug- It's his character, not me. Just a warning. That is, if anyone bothers reading this. The beginning is pretty bad, and I will go back to fix it when I have the chance. On that note, kudos to anyone still reading this and let's get on with the story!  
**

Smoke and Mirrors

Soon, everything was set. Nikaidou and Kazoumi agreed to help out the guardians. Amu and Yaya's hair were both dyed, clothes were picked out, charas switched, and nuances memorized. After a few...technical difficulties, and their fixes, the walkies started to work. That was after Rima kicked them in frustration. Tadase, Kukai, and Nagihiko spent hours planning and Utau got a video feed of what was going on in the Hotori household, courtesy of Amu. All were ready.

Of course, no plan ever survives contact with the enemy. But that didn't mean they couldn't _try_.

The group went out for ice cream, attracting the notice of Easter agents nearby. Soon, they are surrounded. The park, around the bend from the stand, was empty and the Guardians character transformed. The agents had brought eggs with them.

Fortunately, that was a contingency they had counted on. Eventually, more agents showed up and flushed the Guardians out of the way. Komichu watched from the shadows. At the right moment, while the guardians were fleeing, he grabbed his pink-headed target. The didn't notice as they kept running. She wouldn't know what had hit her until she woke up at Easter HQ, courtesy of the chloroform rag in her nose.

All the Guardians could think as they ran was _Mission Successful._ That and _PLEASE Yaya be okay!_, and other thoughts along those lines.

Komichu had started up the sleek, maroon car, in the meanwhile, and made his escape. He popped bubble gum and thought of bubble wrap and the unconscious girl in his backseat. He made sure to drive carefully, as police stopping him would see the Hinamori bitch, and freak out. Not unnecessarily, of course, so he suppressed his urge to floor the gas pedal. Instead the car ambled into traffic, out of it, and out to Easter.

When they reached Easter HQ, Komichu flashed an ID card and took the car to a parking garage in the back. He then lifted Yaya in a fireman's hold and started up to his boss's office. Hopefully that cocky bastard would be pleased with him this once.

As it turned out he was, in fact, quite pleased with the girl. Komichu glared daggers at the guard to the room with the fortune teller and the mother until he opened up, and threw the limp form of Yaya inside.

Tsukasa walked over and knelt before the girl, feeling her forehead and checking her pulse. Then he noticed something. Two somethings, actually. The first was that her hair seemed to be dyed by an amateur-the root tips of a brunette was showing. The second was that her charas didn't seem to be as tired as she was. Which was odd, because by all reasonable guesses the charas should be out like a light if _she_ was in that state. He put his hand to his chin, but said nothing aloud. Instead, he cradled her head in his lap and stroked her hair, listening to the sounds of Ikuto and Midori dozing off and the girl's breathing.

On a whim, he took out his cards, shuffled them, and pulled out one. It was the Ace of Hearts. He put it half under the black joker and then turned away, clearing his mess. Finally, he succumbed to the loll that had taken over his cellmates.

Meanwhile, the Guardians had regrouped at Nagihiko's house. Amu had briefed Utau on what had happened. They were all a bit more wary. As part of the disguise, Amu and Yaya had to switch charas. No one knew what would happen (if anything) if Yaya tried to character transform with Ran, Miki, or Su, and assuming Amu could character transform with Pepe, she would still be weak at the end and not be able to hold it long. Also, they were missing a member of their team. And, if their plan didn't work out, then all they had done by sending Yaya to Easter was complicate an already gnarled tangle of knots.

A gnarled tangle of knots that contained good people like Amu's parents and Tsukasa, bad people like this new Easter, and okay people like Kazoumi. No one had any idea as to where to start picking at it, so they decided to grab a few ends and pull, hoping something gave.

Whatever their motives, whatever their problems, it was time for Phase Beta to start.

Phase Beta was the actual going in and fighting strategy, with character transformations, X-eggs, evil Easter Co., friends in trouble...the full nine yards. No one had come up with a better plan than Kukai's run-in-and-smash-everything type. The only difference was that theirs was more thought out than the typical one.

Basically, it relied on three things: Yaya's cover holding, the prisoners to be together, and Easter to be home, fat and dumb, when the Guardians came a'ringing. The third was easily overcome: basic surveillance would prove useful there. The other two, not so much. And the longer they waited, the higher the chance of someone finding out that they had indeed not caught 'the Hinamori girl', but one of her Guardian friends, who would know nothing important Easter hadn't already figured out on their own. The second, there was nothing to be done about either way. Their best chance was surprise, because if Easter expected them, they would surely split them up. Or would they?

Yes, they would. It would be idiotic not to. What did they stand to lose? All of their assets by keeping them all together. Plus, splitting them meant the Guardians would have to split, giving up the advantage of large-scale teamwork. Also, they would always be at a disadvantage because they couldn't be sure about where Amu's parents and the rest of them actually were at any given point in time.

They split into teams to start with. When things got thick with fighting, they would be able to rejoin each other. Amu gave up Dia's sealed egg to Rima. She and Nagi made the first team. They played the role of big, fat, juicy bait. Kazoumi had mentioned that Easter had been dying to analyze Dia's now-normal egg for a while. This would be a good opportunity for them to get it, with little cost to themselves. That is, as long as they didn't think enough to wonder why 'Amu' didn't have all her eggs. Or, if they had figured out Yaya's disguise, that Amu was jumping around somewhere.

The second team was Tadase and Kukai. They were going to distract the goons still at Easter. The third team, Amu ('Yaya') and Utau would actually bring out the captives. They could fly, and rather quickly at that, and both could fight. Well, no one actually knew what was going to happen when Amu transformed with Pepe, but her transformation with Il couldn't fly, and neither could Utau's. So it was a case of cross-your-fingers. Worst case scenario had Amu switch places with Kukai.

It was complex, dependent on factors they couldn't control, and that was its one weakness. Even so, no one thought of better so that is just what they did.

It was afternoon when they character transformed. "My Heart, Unlock!"

"Character Transformation: Beat Jumper"

"Character Transformation: Clown Drop"

"Character Transformation: Platinum Royale"

"Character Transformation: Sky Jack"

"Character Transformation: Seraphic Charm"

"Character Transformation: Amulet Toddler"

Amulet Toddler wore pink footie pajamas with orange and red designs (baby bottles and the like) and a cream bib edged in yellow and pink. Her hair was up in two pink bows with red bunnies. Its sleeves ended at her elbows, and she wore light orange gloves edged in pink. She stepped, and into the air she went. Her bib, apparently, doubled over as makeshift wings.

While Amu got used to this character transformation, Rima and Nagi set off, bickering as he flew. The other four started to walk away from Nagi and Rima, towards the Easter Building. There was no need for another aerial target. Not yet, anyway. Tadase and Kukai walked a little ahead of the girls. The point at this point was to be decidedly inconspicuous. They were all nervous about Utau (except Amu) and about the mission. No one wanted to screw it up...Easter was completely out of line and had to be stopped. And they were out of time.

Nikaidou and Kazoumi were sitting in a black sports car about two blocks from Easter and the Guardians found them without too much difficulty. To their surprise, Hikaru was with them, but he was quiet and soon forgotten as they went over final details. There was a red truck on the other side of the road-that was Nikaidou's ride. The two of them were for the captives, and themselves should they need to make a quick escape, well the ones who could not fly, anyway.

Tadase stepped on Kukai's board and landed up a good thirty stories, on an open terrace. They raced inside. Soon, alarms rang and there was general havoc about the building. So much so that no one noticed the two girls walk in door ten floors up.

The hallways are empty, alarms and personnel shrieking as confused people threw their bodies at exits. For some reason, it was not hard to believe that these people had never heard of a fire drill...or any kind of drill, for that matter. Hence, they had no idea what to do now that something was happening. Soon enough, the hallways cleared. Amu and Utau go door-to-door, throwing them open in hopes of finding her family.

Soon enough, the come upon Ami and Tsumugu. They are both sleeping. They share a glance before Utau shakes Ami awake. Before she could say anything, Utau put her finger to her lips and leaned down. "Ami, we're playing the questions game. That means I'll ask you a question and you will answer it. Okay?"

Ami nodded, woozy from sleep.

"Alright. Is your mother around here?"

Ami yawned hugely, then frowned. "No. Mama is in that other room. It's big and there's two guys there. Boys!" She giggled uncontrollably for a moment.

Amu snapped backwards with worry. "Two men? Did they wear a uniform?"

"What's a uniform?"

"Were they wearing the same kind of clothing? The same colors?"

"Hmm..." Ami trailed off, visibly thinking hard. "I don't think so."

"Alright then, Ami. We're going outside. Soon you'll be able to meet with your Mama. But first, you're going to have to come with us. Okay?"

She considered for a moment. "Only if Papa says its okay."

Utau responded by shaking Tsumugu awake. He blinked groggily, then in shock as Ami bounced off her still half-asleep father. He jounced upwards, then pulled forwards into a sitting position. Ami, totally awake despite being asleep only a few minutes before, crawled over Tsumugu. "Papa, these people want us to go with them."

Tsumugu picked Ami up and placed her on the ground beside him as he stood, looking at Utau and Amu, not recognizing them. Then he fainted. Utau looked up at Amu quizzically before she caught herself. Amu shrugged and picked up Ami."We're going to get you and your papa out of here, alright?"

The girl in her arms nodded numbly. Utau slung Tsumugu over her shoulder and Ami clutched onto Amu for dear life. The four of them floated to the ground. Nikaidou walked out of the shadows. "They were separated, huh."

"Yeah, but we didn't have to deal with guards on the way, so it should be alright." Amu sighed. "Just, please, get them out of here and somewhere safe. Nikaidou nodded, opening the driver's door. Tsumugu lay on a seat in the back, and Ami sat beside him, confused and clutching his shirt sleeve. Utau stepped aside, but Amu did not follow. She took a little glowing stone from her pocket and closed Ami's hand around the small, smooth piece. "Keep it safe, and give it to your sister when you see her again, okay?"

Ami closed her hands and smiled. "Okay!" Then, Nikaidou drove off, into the darkness that now permeated the sky. They only had one shot at it now, to get everyone out at once. Giving Ami the shard was a calculated risk because Easter wanted them, but they surely wouldn't suspect her of having it. And if it all failed here, they wouldn't have all of them. Whatever they did, anyway. She touched Dia's egg in the concealed pocket for luck, and opened the communication lines.

Nagihiko, Amu, Kukai, and Kazoumi held the four they had been able to make work. They hadn't been able to find a way to hide one in Yaya's disguise in time, so they were essentially going in blind on that count. On the other hand, at this point they hadn't used the lines. They would use them as little as possible, as not to compromise them by accident or by an Easter worker figuring out the frequency and listening in. That could be a fatal mistake.

Even so, Midori, Yaya, and the 'two guys' Ami had mentioned were in there, and they were going to find a way to get them out, or go down trying. So now, trying to patch together a mess of a failed plan, Amu spoke the first codeword of the night. "Partway to Second Base."


	17. Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law

* * *

The static now emitting from the on transmitter fitted into Nikaidou's car's radio was all they could hear for a few moments. Then came the sound of Rima's voice through Nagi's transmitter, and it was as if she had been running a long time. Even so, Amu jerked backwards involuntarily as she heard the strain in her voice. "Strike One! No, scratch that, Strike Two! Strike Two!"

"Copy." Utau responded. Amu had let go of the walkie during her brief moment of shock. "Team 2, this is Team 3. We're heading for the rest of them. I repeat, we're not going for One. Team 2, think you're up to it?" She handed it back to the other girl, who took it, if a bit shakily. Then Utau offered Amu an arm, and the pair of them lifted effortlessly into the sky. Strike meant that Rima and Nagi had been spotted. Strike One was a response. Strike Two was imminent danger and/or capture. Strike Three was they were done for, and captured.

It was too early. They wanted to get Amu's parents out before Strike One if possible, although it probably wouldn't be, and before Strike Two for sure. But they should barely have noticed them by now. How? What had compromised it? Even if they had gotten anything off Yaya, the Guardians were reasonably certain in their speed. They had planned it, after all. The static ended long enough for a short transmission. "Copy, Team 3. Good luck. We won't be in range if you need us." The transmitter crackled to life. Amu responded. "Copy." Then she turned it off. No use in it if there was no one in range who would be of any help.

They saw Kukai's board pass overhead as they reached the Easter building. They fought their way inside on the same floor they had gotten in on, Utau once again bringing Amu up for the sake of her unstable 'wings'. It was their job to get whoever was there out. Their friends, no matter how much Amu wanted to help them, would have to deal with their own problems for now.

They walked through eerily empty hallways, which were mere parodies of the blazing madness they had been only minutes before. All the people were now cowering in bunkers, or something. They didn't know. They didn't care. It didn't matter. Ami couldn't remember where everyone else was. She and her father were now in Nikaidou's car, speeding away. Luckily for them all, Ami had fallen asleep on their way out, and so made no protest when she was put inside it and Nikaidou drove off, promising to bring them to safety.

They checked behind every door like clockwork. Utau had at one point changed into Lunatic Charm for the sake of attacking any guards. They didn't want to risk Amulet Toddler when she might not have any viable weapons anyway. They wouldn't know what they could do until they tried, and there was no reason to do that now. It would only attract attention, and the only attention there could be at that moment was the unwanted kind. The moved up another floor to another empty hallway. The molasses of time was dragging at their heels, sapping their strength, but not their wills. They kept looking, hoping desperately that they would find who they were looking for soon. The clock was ticking.

It was around the time that Amu and Utau had changed levels that Kukai and Tadase finally located Rima and Nagihiko. They'd been chased around town, and were still running. They'd found them too early. How had they come so quickly? It was almost as if they had been expecting them to appear, then and there at that place. Utau, was it her? Was she feeding them info? It had to be, thought the two betrayed boys. What else could it be?

They swooped downwards so that Kukai's board was flying beside the middle of Nagihiko's jumps. Nagihiko jumped onto the remaining space, crowding them. He kept an arm around Rima, who was nearly falling off. With just a quick introduction, and Kukai's warning that the board might break, they circled back to the town's center. It seemed that Easter had developed some way of finding and/or tracking them. And that technology had fallen under Easter Monday's hands. Or Easter Monday had developed it.

They thought they knew, though they hoped it was during Easter Sunday's time, when they were tracking them. It would otherwise be an indication of some pretty sharp intelligence. Then again, the fact that they had been found and surrounded so quickly took some intelligence. Intelligence in the hands of the enemy was bad.

Just then, Kukai's board shattered and disappeared with green dust, and they all fell. Tadase created bouncy jelly for them all to fall on, and they dropped to the ground, weapons ready. A hoarde of X eggs were coming their way, and they raised their weapons to fight it.

Meanwhile, Utau and Amu had found themselves in a large cavern of a room, a bay of some sort. The door locked behind them, and no amount of pulling could free them. Luckily the room had a window, so they could get out that way if they needed to. Then they heard the shuffling of feet and muffled somethings. Shouts? They whirled around, hearing someone clear their throats. They found themselves face to face with Amu's mom, Tsukasa, Ikuto, and Amu. Well, Yaya. All were turned away from them.

Just as they noticed them and started for them, a figure stepped out of the shadows. It was someone they had never heard of before, but his description fit The Boss, the person who took control of Easter Monday in lieu of Hikaru and Kazoumi. He grinned at them. "And where are they? Far away, I presume."

"You presume correctly." Utau's voice rang out in the vast space of the room. "They're far away from here by now. You're never going to find them."

"Don't be so sure, little lady. If you are, ask yourself why you are here? I'll tell you why. We could be done, but we aren't Why settle for just the one you want most when you can have all? You're playing my game, little lady, and so I make up the rules." The Boss beamed, showing off glinting teeth. "The first is, that I will always win."

He pushed a button and three feral, muscled wolves, black as sin, leaped out at the pair of them. They made to defend themselves. Utau called out "Nightmare Lorelei!" And butterflies made of energy flew out at the wolves. They were absorbed immediately. Before either of them could do anything more, they reached them. Utau had her trident and warded off two of them, but the third sent Amu flying out the window.

Utau cried out as one paw raked through the material on her boot and on her leg. Biting her teeth, she turned and jumped out after Amu. who was desperately trying to use her bib as a parachute, but not knowing exactly how to use it due to her inexperience. Midflight, she tuned back into Seraphic Charm, and dove faster, scrabbling to get to Amu before she touched the ground. She caught Amu's flailing hands just before the girl reached the ground. Amu had to make a running landing, but she didn't fall. Utau landed lightly beside her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Utau-chi." Amu was breathing hard, hands on her knees. The straightened. "We have to go back. We need to save them."

"Yeah, we do." Utau agreed. "But any ideas on how to deal with the wolves?"

"Can I help?" Hikaru had walked up to them during their short rest period. "Urizu and I can't character transform, but a character change and a friend couldn't hurt." Just as Utau was about to refuse his help, if very gently, Amu spoke up. "Okay, Hikaru-tan! Let's go!" Shooting Amu a dirty look, Utau gathered both up in her arms, and took off.

Kazoumi looked on from his vantage point in the car about twenty feet away. He had hoped they would say no to Hikaru. He didn't want him to get hurt. But they had made their choice, and he would just have to hope Hikaru would be okay. He was, after all, fighting with the best of them. He looked at the key in the ignition and sighed. The waiting was getting to him. Hopefully it would all be over soon.

Rima was breathing heavily as she once again caught her juggling pins. Another group of X eggs were pinioned. Good. But as soon as the X eggs were pinioned, others took their place. It was like when they fought Easter the first time for Ikuto's sake all over again. There were just so many of them, and they were tiring out quickly.

No one knew where they were coming from. No one cared except in passing, in a few moments of rest before the next wave. They had to finish this soon, or they would be finished. Another wave sprung up, seemingly out of nowhere, and she no longer had time to think.

Utau flew up to the broken window and entered it. Immediately, the dogs were in their faces again. Then Hikaru called out. "Urizu, character change!" A hat appeared on his head. It was backwards, brown with a yellow smiley face emblazoned on each side. He went in front of the dogs and started making funny noises at them. They barked and howled, giving Utau and Amu a short space of time.

During which, Amu dearly wished for Su. What she got was not too different. She found she was holding a large spoon and a larger bowl of oatmeal. She tilted the bowl, and the oatmeal swam out, engulfing and trapping the wolves. "Baby's Breakfast!" Hikaru jumped out of the way in time, and was hanging off of a nearby T beam. He landed heavily on the ground. Utau called out "Angel Cradle!" The wolves shed X eggs until they were three puppies.

The three of them stood their ground, braced for another fight, when they heard the laugh of someone who came through the door. They turned, and were shocked at what they saw. Five men walked in. Four of them bore bodies-Rima, Nagihiko, Kukai, and Tadase. The other held a radio. There was no space to wonder where the other radio was; it didn't matter. Not now. Not when everything else just went topsy-turvy. Not then indeed.

The four were unceremoniously dumped next to the other four. The remaining three showed no signs of moving. The boss grinned at the fifth person as the other four filed off, and left via the use of a key. "Komichu, good work." The boss patted the head of the other. He was somewhat taller than the boss, with raven hair and pale skin and a singularly unexpressive countenance. The Boss turned back to them. "Given up yet, my children?"

Amu got finished yelling "We're not yours!" half a second later and Utau muttered "I'm not a child!" The Boss just grinned. He seemed to do that a lot. Amu was just waiting for him to start rubbing his hands together in anticipation and cackling like a goblin might. One look at Hikaru and Utau revealed they were thinking just the same.

Then the Boss went into his pocket and plucked out two eggs. Pink and Blue-Ran and Miki. He held one in each hand. "And now you watch as I crush your friend's dreams. Literally." _Then_ he started to cackle. If Amu's eggs weren't in such imminent danger, the look she shared with her friends might have held some humor. But the situation was as it was and Amu plucked a spoon from thin air. She chopped with it like an extremely dull and unwieldy sword at the Boss's arms. It was very blunt and not a very coordinated stroke, but it had behind it the power of someone who was threatened, which is not inconsiderable. Neither was the look of triumph as the eggs rolled to a stop right in front of Amu. She picked them up and put them in her pocket.

The spoon came up again, and Utau was in the air, ready to let loose a feathery attack. Hikaru was gone. Amu paused and took a quick look for him. Where did he go? Then she noticed him pressed against the wall twenty or so feet away from the now-eight people they had to save. She nodded to herself, then refocused. She had a job to do.

A job that only became more complicated as Rima and her crew's hoarde of X eggs came crashing around the jagged glass of the broken window, poised to attack.


End file.
